North Bergen Police Department 2018 Annual Report Released

The North Bergen Police Department has recently released their Annual Report for 2018.

This report covers many different aspects of the workings of the police department, including, but not limited to, the budget, crime statistics, important cases, and plans for the future.

The report describes in great detail each of the divisions within the department—seven in

total—followed by recognized “officers of the month”.

Safety statistics are listed next, which may be pleasant news to citizens of North Bergen. The report states, that out of 13,000 cities cited in a 2017 report of safest cities, North Bergen was called as the safest city in Hudson County, sixth safest in all of New Jersey, and twenty-third safest in the entire country. The NBPD report also says that the township retained its statuses in 2018 because of its low crime rates. A line graph compares the crime rates between the township and both the state and county, matching what had been previously reported.

Yet another positive take away from the report is the amount of cleared, or closed, cases.

Again, North Bergen’s clearance rates are better than those of the nation, for most crimes

reported. There are some categories of crimes that NBPD seemed to just surpass the nation in clearing, and there is one category that the nation had surpassed statistically. The notable cases listed in the report show the ability of the NBPD to react and investigate in accordance with the statistics; one of the cases involved a possible human trafficking situation which was prevented by an undercover investigation.

Plans for 2019, as indicated in the report, included being re-accredited by the New Jersey

State Association of Chiefs of Police, piloting a body-worn camera program, expand the

Conducted Energy Device Program (these are also known as Tasers), and hire a full-time civilian

crime analyst. It is likely we will see information about these programs and goals in the 2019

report next year.