NOT A SINGLE NEWARK NJ POLICE OFFICER FIRED A SHOT IN 2020, THANKS TO DE-ESCALATION PROGRAM
Newark police and city officials say a de-escalation training program is working, especially in a year faced with challenges.
Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose says 2020 was the roughest year in his 34-year career in law enforcement.
Six of their 1,100 officers lost their lives to COVID-19 with dozens more officers sick after being exposed on the job.
They also faced major challenges during the summer's anti-police brutality protests. Through it all, Ambrose says not one officer in the city fired his or her weapon while on duty in 2020.
"It was the unknown. It was the unknown that you didn’t know with this disease that you were coming here every day, and these police officers and firefighters going out there, and we didn't know," says Ambrose.
For Newark police, it was a year of COVID-19 fears, obstacles and losses.
“We lost six police officers and going to six funerals, it all wears on you," Ambrose says.
There was also the major tension on the streets of the city, following the death of George Floyd.
