COMMUNITY STREET TEAMS CONTRIBUTE TO DECLINE IN TRENTON CRIME RATE

This story was published in the Trentonian

Crime in Trenton dropped 20 percent in the first four months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, according to new city data, with homicides and robberies falling by more than half.

The Police Department’s May CitiStat report, which covers Jan. 1 through May 3, showed homicides fell from seven to three, a 57 percent decline, and robberies dropped from 78 to 33, a 58 percent decline. Overall reported crime fell from 1,037 incidents to 834.

Police officials attributed part of the decline to proactive enforcement and firearms recovery. Two community-based violence intervention organizations, Isles, Inc. and Salvation and Social Justice, said the gains also reflect daily work by residents to defuse conflict before it escalates.

“These numbers represent lives saved and a community that refused to accept violence as inevitable,” said Laura Fenster Rothschild, chief operating officer of Isles. “They are also proof that prevention works.”

The Isles Trenton Community Street Team formed in 2021 through a partnership led by Isles with Fathers of Men United for A Better Trenton and Building a Better Way for Trenton. Its 26 members, nearly all of whom live in or grew up in the neighborhoods they serve, provide safe passage outside Trenton Central High School, the 9th Grade Academy, Capital City High School and the Isles Youth Institute, along with conflict mediation and survivor support.

Since the safe passage work began in 2022, the schools the team serves have seen a 96 percent drop in violence, the organization said. Police calls to those campuses during student arrival and dismissal are down 75 percent, and the team has escorted more than 4,000 students to and from class.

“For years, people told us that violence in Trenton was just the way things were. These numbers continue to show that’s not the case,” said Perry Shaw III, director of the Trenton Community Street Team. “Violence is not just a law enforcement issue, it is a public health crisis.”

The Trenton Restorative Street Team, a program of Salvation and Social Justice, operates in the North and West wards. Its practitioners provide violence prevention and intervention through education, advocacy and conflict resolution, while offering support to victims and facilitating restorative justice practices such as peace circles, community conferences and grief groups.

“True public safety comes not from punishment, but from restoration,” said the Rev. Charles Boyer, co-founder and executive director of Salvation and Social Justice. “Violence declines when communities are empowered to lead.”

Boyer said sustaining the results will require greater investment in community-based street teams. Both organizations said the work is unfinished and that progress depends on continued partnership among residents, schools, faith leaders and law enforcement.