Chief Conway's Email:
From: Chief Conway [mailto:gconway@newarkpd.state.de.us]
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 5:20 PM
To: Mannering, Christy
Cc: 'cluft@newark.de.us'; 'Carol Houck'; William Nefosky; 'James Flatley'
Subject: RE: Violence in Newark, DE (U of D)
Ms. Mannering,
I regret that your brother was the victim of an assault in the City of Newark. No one deserves to be a victim of a brutal act of violence. At the same time no one is trying to conceal that such acts occur in Newark or blame the victim. On a weekly basis The Newark Police Department releases crime statistics/incidents for the proceeding week as well as year to date statistics that are compared to the previous year. This information is released to the media and can be found on the City of Newark website. The Department also maintains a press book which is open to the media should they choose to review incidents occurring for the previous week. The Newark Post and the University of Delaware Review consistently report these incidents in their publications.
We recognize that students living or going to school in our City can be potential victims and in the past have joined forces with the University of Delaware Department of Public Safety to organize task forces to combat robberies and violence against students. These efforts were also well publicized. The City of Newark Police Department and the University of Delaware provide forums and publish safety tips for citizens and students alike.
The City of Newark also deals with a large number of order maintenance crimes that are usually fueled by alcohol consumption. We have found alcohol plays a role in many of the assaults, disorderly conduct complaints, and acts of criminal mischief that occur in Newark. In order to curb this behavior the City of Newark places an emphasis on alcohol violations. You report that the first contact your brother had with the group that assaulted him, was when someone threw a beer bottle at the vehicle. Does this not imply alcohol consumption may have played a role in their behavior?
As for the September 10th assaults which you referrer to, arrests have been made in one case and warrants have been obtained for the suspect in the second case that the Newark Police Department investigated on that date. There has also been an arrest made in a string of burglaries that occurred during the first two weeks of the fall semester.
I am dismayed that you feel Officer Beighley's statement that your brother should have called the police was putting blame on the victim for being assaulted. I am sure he was merely relaying a fact that if the Police Department knew about the first incident, we would have responded and if we were able to locate the suspects at that time, we may have prevented the assault. Police Department's across the country are asking the public to "be our eyes and ears" and report unusual or suspicious activity because the police can not be everywhere at the same time. No one is blaming the victim, we are asking for help in preventing crime.
Your brother's case has been assigned to a detective for follow up in an effort to identify the perpetrators. Again, I regret that your family had to go through such a traumatic event.
Chief Gerald T. Conway, Jr.
Newark Police Department
_________________________________
My response to him:
Chief Conway,
Receiving a response from you is something I did not expect, but very much appreciate.
You mentioned the crime statistics that are released each week to the public and I am aware that this information can be found, I have found it. I am also aware that University of Delaware's Public Safety posts their statistics online as well. In addition, I have read the police reports in The Newark Post and the Delaware Review. This does not mean that the whole truth and nothing but the truth is reported. Specifically with my brother's case, nothing has been publicly reported as of this date and he was assaulted two weekends ago. This makes me wonder how many other cases are not reported, or are not reported in full for an accurate account. I see that I struck a nerve by suggesting concealment of cases and that is okay, that is what I intend to do by letting everyone know. I have spoken with many people about this situations, police officers for New Castle County, state Senators and other public officials. Communicating and addressing my concerns is something that seems to be working and I'm going to continue down this openly vocal path.
My website, Fighting Against Violence in Newark, Delaware, (http://scrink.com/violence/newark_violence.html) has received a lot of recognition and has been posted on other websites throughout the state. I have been updating it with information as I find it, so that the content continues to show the trend of violence in Newark.
Alcohol consumption, I am sure does play a part in the violence which has overcome the city of Newark. I am sure that alcohol or drugs played a part in the recent assault this past week in which the victim was hit over the head with a hammer. The cause of violence should be looked into and we definitely should be proactive, but alcohol consumption or not, the bigger problem here is that students and residents are NOT safe in the city you and your officers promised to protect.
It pleases me to know arrests have been made in the incidents from earlier on in the month. However, I know that though one victim still has his jaw wired shut, after it was shattered, the assaulter is getting away with nearly killing the victim. I say this because the charges were dropped down from assault with a deadly weapon, to a lesser charge. The victim's doctor at Christiana Hospital feels otherwise and so do I.
As for my open opinion about Officer Beighley, my entire family feels he judged my brother before a word was uttered and Chief Conway, he did. He put my brother in the lump sum of people he has dealt with before and never allowed him to finish a sentence during his report of the crime. He insinuated that my brother was retaliating and that is why he had been assaulted. My brother not only was NOT retaliating, but he was in his car trying to get away from the group of people who were standing in the middle of Courtney Street when he was assaulted. Officer Beighley would rather think my brother had been looking for trouble, than actually conduct a thorough investigation.
You are asking for help to prevent crime. Well, Chief Conway, here I am.
Thank you for your time,
Christy Mannering