January 04, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Violent crime is on the decline in New Jersey with shootings across the state dropping to a historic low in 2023.
Shootings and gun deaths are on the decline in New Jersey, following a nationwide trend of decreasing violent crime.
The state saw 924 shootings in 2023, a 13% decrease from the previous year and the lowest total since 2009, New Jersey state officials announced at a press conference on Thursday. Gun violence accounted for 191 deaths in the state last year, an 8% decrease from 2022.
"Today we mark a great achievement for public safety in New Jersey as we report the lowest number of shootings in nearly 15 years," Gov. Phil Murphy said.
New Jersey's progress is consistent with a nationwide trend as big cities across the U.S. saw sharp declines in homicides and other violent crimes last year. In Philadelphia, there were 20% fewer homicides in 2023 compared to the previous year.
Murphy attributed the downward trend to a "holistic approach" to crime reduction that includes a combination of data and technology, cross-agency collaboration and strict gun laws that aim to limit the proliferation of ghost guns and high-capacity magazines and increase penalties for gun traffickers and bad actors within the firearm industry.
Police departments and city governments across New Jersey have invested substantially in technologies designed to police and prevent crime. Over the last decade, Camden has deployed an extensive citywide system of digital surveillance and data collection that includes video cameras, gunshot sound detectors and license plate scanners. Those investments helped drive a 22% decrease in violent crime between 2012 and 2014 and got national media to refer to Camden as the "future of policing."
Last July, Camden County announced an $8 million investment in police technology. Meanwhile, Atlantic City is currently in the process of installing a citywide surveillance camera system, according to the Press of Atlantic City.
Across New Jersey, data generated by systems like these are often shared between law enforcement agencies and county governments as part of a statewide intelligence-sharing network called the Gun Violence Reduction Task Force. State officials credit technology-driven efforts with driving the state’s crime statistics downward.
At Thursday’s press conference, state officials also cited a $100 million investment in community-based violence intervention and prevention efforts since 2019, including outreach aimed at de-escalating conflict within communities and trauma-informed services to victims of violent crime.
State officials specifically noted sizable reductions in shootings in New Jersey cities like Trenton, Newark and Atlantic City, although they did not give specific data for those cities. In Paterson, where Attorney General Matthew Platkin took control of the city's police department in March, officials said there was a 39% decrease in homicides and a 25% decrease in shooting victims in 2023 compared to 2022.
While officials did not specify what the year-end trends looked like for Camden, violent crime has generally been trending downward in recent years. Last summer, the Camden County Police Department announced a 44% drop in homicides and a 62% decrease in shootings compared to 2012, when the city’s notoriously corruption-prone police department was disbanded and replaced by a county-run police force.
While state leaders celebrated New Jersey's progress in crime reduction, they stopped short of taking a victory lap.
"Our work is ongoing," Platkin said. "A single life ended or disrupted by gun violence is one too many. We are committed to building upon our success this year and making this state a safer place for everyone."
