Mayor Helmin J. Caba says he hired an unprecedented number of police officers, but the largest expansion of the city’s law enforcement payroll in history has not made residents any safer, according to State Police statistics and data contained in the ‘State of the City’ booklet, a slick election year presentation that would confound most readers with spurious facts and false assertions mixed into a pleasant display of photos and charts.
A sober reading of Caba’s report on the condition of Perth Amboy reveals some alarming facts about public safety.
Twenty rapes were reported since Caba became mayor, compared with only six in the three previous years. Arson jumped to 11, up from just four in the final three years that Wilda Diaz was mayor.
The number of auto thefts increased to 207 during the first three years of his administration, compared with 195 during the previous three-year period. Caba reported that there were 65 auto thefts in 2018, 76 in 2019, and 54 in 2020, the last year Wilda Diaz was mayor. By comparison, there were 72 in 2021, 88 in 2022, and 47 in 2023.
The number of aggravated assaults also increased during Caba’s administration from 335 to 384. Caba claimed that there were 111 assaults in 2018, 115 in 2019, 109 in 2020, the last year Wilda Diaz was mayor. By comparison, there were 110 in 2021, 144 in 2022, and 130 in 2023.
At the same time, although taxpayers are spending more on police salaries, the vast majority of crimes reported in Perth Amboy go unsolved year after year.
Caba claimed that under his leadership, “we’ve achieved remarkable progress” in public safety but while crimes increased in numerous categories since he took over City Hall and appointed an unqualified police director, his ‘State of the City’ presentation attempts to credit him for all the reductions in the number of offenses that were made while Joe Vas and Wilda Diaz were mayor.
Despite the fancy public relations gimmickry used by City Hall to trick voters with taxpayer money, skeptics abound in Perth Amboy and they have been calling out Caba’s crime con-artistry.
“This is #CabaTown! This is what people in #PerthAmboy wanted when they picked Mayor Helmin J. Caba over our beloved #WildaDiaz,” said Reinaldo Aviles, in a social media post after the shooting of a teenager in March 2023 went largely unreported. “They should start demanding it be sent as a Nixle alert. That’s crazy the town doesn’t share that information. No transparency. And it has nothing to do with their investigation because other towns do it regularly.”
Amol Sinha, the executive director of the New Jersey ACLU, criticized Caba’s administration for overly aggressive policing, which is often related to racial discrimination and the maltreatment of innocent civilians.
Caba’s administration triggered a national conversation about injustice after a video surfaced on YouTube exposing Perth Amboy police officers who stopped a group of 30 or 40 teenagers, primarily Black and Latino, who had been riding their bicycles through the city. Officers handcuffed one of the teens and confiscated several of the bikes shortly after the video showed a superior officer telling the teenagers, “Nobody wants to take your bikes, it’s a beautiful day out.”
“Does it really require this many officers to address whatever situation this is?,” asked Sinha, who added: “Police CANNOT continue to be our response to EVERYTHING.”
“We need to ask questions about what we criminalize, who we enforce laws against, and whether cops are the right response for minor violations,” said the civil rights lawyer.
“Without knowing all the facts….this is just unbelievable,” said Democratic political consultant Paul Swibinski. “Isn’t there any real crime in Perth Amboy? Licenses, fees, fines…this is how poor and working class people are abused.”
As residents sleep through the campaign, Caba is sure to have a significant financial advantage and possibly a superior position on the June primary election ballot, most voters who usually participate in selecting the mayor will be prohibited from voting for the first time.
This kind of legal corruption is going to make it more challenging for citizens to restore law and order to the city, where police professionalism has been replaced by public relations puffery.