February 14, 2018 • www.theobserver.com • Vol. CXXX, No. 40
HIGHLIGHTS To all who celebrate, we wish you a happy St. Valentine’s Day and a blessed Ash Wednesday.
COVERING: BELLEVILLE • BLOOMFIELD • EAST NEWARK • HARRISON • KEARNY • LYNDHURST • NORTH ARLINGTON • NUTLEY
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Not all who get help need help, social media reveals By Kevin Canessa kc@theobserver.com
Photo by Lisa Feorenzo
Last month, a massive fire took place at 238-240 Maple St. The residents of the building were helped by countless people in the area. But it appears some, who were not directly affected by the fire, have also asked for help — have been given help — yet still want more help.
Residents beware — when people take to social media after a tragedy looking for help, you have to do your due diligence before offering a helping hand. Here’s a local example. A woman who once lived next door to the home destroyed by fire at 238-240 Maple St. early last month has been using the fire to get help from an unsuspecting public — only her home was not fully damaged in the fire, according to representatives at the See SCAM, Page 26
Kearny cop is cleared in 2016 shooting By Karen Zautyk kzautyk@theobserver.com KEARNY — Following a lengthy and comprehensive investigation into a Kearny police officer’s shooting of a shoplifting suspect at Walmart in 2016, the Hudson County Prosecu-
tor’s Office last week announced it has determined that “the use of deadly force was legally justified” and the case will not be presented to a grand jury. Additionally, Prosecutor Esther Suarez’s statement noted, the results of the investigation and the legal
conclusions reached were reviewed by the state Attorney General’s Office, which agreed with the HCPO’s conclusions. The officer in question reportedly has been on administrative leave pending resolution of the investigation. He has not been publicly identi-
fied. The incident occurred the morning of Sept. 16, 2016, when the officer, in full uniform and driving a marked patrol car, was dispatched to the store on a call “of a shoplifter engaged See CLEARED, Page 24
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018
KEARNY’S COURTOOM Courts issued a directive to all municipal courts to upgrade security and then pretty much left the means of doing that up to the individual local jurisdictions. “I believe I can now say that all of Hudson County is 100% in compliance,” said Frank Carpenter III, the county’s Presiding Municipal
By Ron Leir rleir@theobserver.com KEARNY — It took 12 years but now, finally, the Kearny Municipal Court is truly in safe hands ... from the state’s perspective, anyway. In 2006, the N.J. Administrative Office of the
Court Judge, in whom the state entrusted carrying out its directive in the Hudson Vicinage. Kearny, he said, is, essentially, the last of Hudson’s 12 municipalities to fall into place, with tiny East Newark having been given a sort of exemption due to the borough’s limited resources
Photo by Ron Leir
Retired KPD Lt. Anthony Gouveia, right, prepares to wand someone who is heading into the Kearny Municipal Court.
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property code and health violations, DWI cases and the like? On the surface, maybe not, but there’s a lot of human traffic that passes through the portals of local courts — Carpenter pointed out that 1.2 million cases, or 20% of the entire state’s municipal docket — are handled by Hudson courts, so they’re extraordinarily busy and anything can happen. For the past several weeks, Kearny has had in place a new court security protocol that directs visitors — on days when court is in session — to an elevator in the south wing of Town Hall. A stairwell that leads to the court chambers upstairs is cordoned off to prevent access that way.
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and the court’s relative physical isolation. Many communities were hesitant, Carpenter said, some because the structures housing the courts were “ancient” — presenting the issue of “how do you retrofit modern technology to old buildings?” North Bergen, for example, abandoned its century-old court space after a ceiling collapsed and relocated to a former bank building. Elsewhere, some officials objected to the local costs involved. But ultimately, all found a way. Should a judge and court staff really be worried about safety in a place that typically handles matters like parking tickets, motor vehicle summonses,
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THE OBSERVER | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018
03
IS NOW WELL SECURED People take the lift to the upstairs landing where, immediately upon exiting, they are met by a civilian court attendant who asks them to empty their pockets and purses of any change, jewelry, etc., into a plastic tray. Then, they are directed to walk through the detector to be scanned. If the scanner starts beeping, the attendant deploys a sensor wand to check the visitor’s clothing and check for a metallic source that triggered the alarm. Assuming no weapon is discovered in the process – so far, none has been – the visitor is permitted to enter the corridor leading to the courtroom – and to the violations bureau where tickets/fines may be paid. Meanwhile, a second court attendant is stationed at the landing at the top of the stairwell to guard against any possible intrusions by unauthorized persons and/or to quell any hostile behavior. At the same time, a uniformed member of the KPD is assigned to the courtroom to keep order there. Before the start of each court session – in Kearny, that’s every Thursday, two Monday evenings per month and two sessions monthly for DWI cases exclusively – a
court attendant sweeps the chambers with a concave round inspector mirror attached to an elongated pole to check under benches, seats and desks for any weapons or potentially harmful items. Robert Smith, the town business administrator, said the metal detector — which can run in the $3,000 to $4,000 range — was secured at no cost from the Municipal Division of the County Court Vicinage. He said the Kearny Police Department had access to two sensor wands which retail for under $100 each and the mirror. Smith said the town plans to add yet another security feature with the acquisition and installation of a surveillance camera inside the courtroom Estimated cost: $2,300. That should be in place within two to four weeks, he said. “We’re looking at two other locations for cameras in Town Hall,” he added, but declined to say where. Kearny’s two court attendants — retained as part-time employees — are both former municipal police officers — former Lt. Anthony Gouveia of the KPD and former Jersey City Police Officer Mark Muldoon — both of whom retired last year. Muldoon was assigned
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to the Jersey City Municipal Court for many years. KPD Deputy Chief Scott Macfie said there was a delay in lining up security personnel. “We had advertised originally for Class 2 (armed) special police officers, but we didn’t get any,” he said. “Then we finally hired someone but we lost him when he got a job with the fire department.” Part of the problem recruiting was a state law limiting such employment to one community, he said. Photo by Ron Leir So the switch to civilian KPD Deputy Chief Scott MacFie, left, with Gouveia, prior to a court employees was made. session last week.
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