NEWSWEEK: Since the shootings, the citizens of Newark have rallied together to demand an end to violent crime, and you have said this tragedy could be a “defining moment” for your city. How do you plan to keep the momentum going? Cory Booker: We can’t lose the pain as the community deals with it and heals. We can’t lose the energy that’s come about or the outreach that’s come about, because the problem still continues. Last night [Wednesday], we had somebody murdered in the city of Newark. While it is not making national headlines, it is still just as much of a problem as the murders that have come before. So I’m going to do everything I can to keep this in the mind-set of people, because ultimately evil triumphs when good men do nothing, when good people do nothing. So we’re trying to do everything we can, reaching out to other people, getting as many commitments as we can right now from people, whether it’s to organize, whether it’s to mentor, whether it’s to pass legislation, we’re going to keep holding people accountable.
You recently announced that you plan to use gunshot-detection technology, an advanced surveillance system, to help reduce gun violence. Is expensive technology is the answer? There’s no panacea, but I do think gunshot-detection technology is necessary. It is one powerful tool in a toolbox that’s needed to deal with these issues. I’m very encouraged by this technology, because every other place [that’s used it] has had a very good effect. We’ve seen with all the technology, we’ve seen a precipitous drop in crime, so we’ll have one of the largest square mileage [areas] covered by gunshot protection on the globe, and we’ll also have that combined with saturation use of cameras. We’ve got a firm commitment of $3.2 million, which will sufficiently get us [the area we want to cover] and more than double the number of cameras we have right now. But we’re hoping to raise more than that, because the more money we raise, the more cameras can be put in place.
You ran your campaign on a promise to end gun violence, and have now introduced new ordinances that would require all guns to be registered, and all gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms. But the Supreme Court may be poised to loosen gun control in Washington, D.C., which has perhaps the strictest regulations in the country. How might that affect what you are trying to do in Newark? I ran saying to voters, “Hold me accountable for crime reduction.” I’m still asking them to hold me accountable. Whatever the Supreme Court does, you have to worry about what you can control and influence. So that’s why you see us working right now to pull together in press conferences like this, federal actors, state actors and local actors–what we can control is how we work together and partner with those around us. So suddenly I’m not dealing with this problem in a vacuum, as it’s been done before, but suddenly I’m partnering with different towns, different law-enforcement agencies and the federal government to get a much more comprehensive approach to this problem. Add that with technology, and I am still confident we can turn a corner. But ultimately it comes down to not only law-enforcement agencies, but it really comes down to how much the community is willing to step forward and get involved.
The shooting victims were black college students and several of the suspects whose names have been released are Latino. Are you worried about racial tension erupting in Newark? I don’t know if worried is the right word. My concern has been heightened. I don’t want anybody to use this as an excuse to … express any violence or bigotry, especially in the Latino community, which is such a strong, important part of the city. We need each other so much more than people even realize to be a successful city. This is a very diverse city, and we need to strengthen those vines that hold us together.
One of the suspects, Jose Carranza, 28, whom investigators called a principal player, is an undocumented immigrant from Peru with an established criminal history in the United States. What role should local law enforcement play in immigration, if any? I think the role of local law enforcement is to enforce the public’s safety, and to prevent a crime from happening. It is very problematic when you create a climate where police are acting as immigration officers. Because then you create a climate where an undocumented immigrant is afraid to go to the police when being victimized by crime. And so people might say, “They’re undocumented, what do we care about them being victimized by crime?” The reality is that the criminal doesn’t always distinguish between undocumented immigrants and somebody else. So that undocumented immigrant that doesn’t come forward is withholding evidence that could be used to apprehend somebody that is perpetuating crime against other people. It puts some of the most vulnerable and marginalized people in our community in a situation where they can be more easily victimized by criminals.
Some argue the police have downplayed a gang connection, despite finding symbols of MS-13, one of the most dangerous Latino gangs in the country,on the MySpace profile of at least one of the suspects. And this was an execution-style shooting. Even if these young men were only wannabe gang members, isn’t that a worrying sign for your community? I think the police have been very candid with people that there is no obvious gang affiliation or ties here. The number of MS-13’s gang members we even know about in the city, unlike the Bloods, Crips or Latin Kings, is very, very small, so it’s very likely, though we don’t know yet, that this was just a wannabe. But gang culture in general is very toxic. It definitely undermines the fabric of community safety, and is something we are very concerned with. Since I’ve been in office we’ve doubled the number of people in our gang unit, and expanded their operation around the clock. When I came into office, the gang unit didn’t work on weekends. I think on a personal level that it is very problematic for our society and for our communities when it becomes hip or cool to affiliate with a gang in a wannabe nature.
Your critics came out loudly in the aftermath of the Newark schoolyard shootings, some even calling for your immediate resignation. How much personal responsibility do you take for the Newark killings? First let me address the critics. Those are the same people that were there beforehand, they just didn’t have a national stage. It really was the same exact people involved that have been criticizing literally everything I have done since I first got into office. I don’t pay them that much attention. My focus is not being distracted by what they’re doing. But I still hold firm: I’m the mayor of the city, when it comes to challenges with my community, I can’t pass the buck. The buck stops with me. But at the same time, while I take responsibility for the crime in our community, we can never solve this problem unless we all take responsibility. This is not a time to look for blame.
Is there anything that isn’t coming across in the media’s coverage of the schoolyard killings? This is a problem that didn’t start in Newark–it doesn’t exist only in Newark. It really is a national problem we have with the levels of gun violence. And so all of us, whether you live in a city or suburb, if you are Republican or Democrat, we all can admit very easily that the levels of gun violence in our communities is unacceptable. This is not the America of which we dream: we have so many people participating in gun violence, we have prison populations continuing to swell.
