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Rutgers and New Brunswick police will work better together, the departments say.

(File photos)

NEW BRUNSWICK – The two police departments that have jurisdiction around Rutgers University's flagship campus have announced a new patrol strategy in the wake of public scrutiny of their practices.

"By teaming up New Brunswick and Rutgers officers, and encouraging direct one-on-one contact with the students, I believe we can provide a safer environment along with handling quality of life issues which affect the students and residents," Anthony Caputo, the director of the New Brunswick Police Department, said in a news release today.

The Rutgers University Police Department and the New Brunswick Police Department will form new "Neighborhood Police Teams," which will, among other things, put uniformed New Brunswick and Rutgers officers in the same patrol cars. That's a first for both departments.

The announcement comes after weeks of attention to the departments' practices. Late last year, a local New Brunswick news site began reporting on allegations that the New Brunswick department had curtailed the Rutgers department's ability to patrol the area. NewBrunswickToday.com filed suit to force the city to release jurisdiction maps. New Brunswick eventually released some maps but withheld more sensitive ones.

The issue of crime on the Rutgers campus gained national attention after former student Billy McCaw was found beaten to death behind a home where Rutgers students lived. Gov. Chris Christie was asked about the issue at a town hall in South River, and he pledged to discuss the matter with John Hoffman, his attorney general.

The new "neighborhood police teams" will patrol the fifth and sixth wards of New Brunswick, where many Rutgers students live, in the evening and early morning hours. Most crimes in those neighborhoods occur between 1 and 5 a.m., according to police.

"This Neighborhood Police Team will focus on the safety and protection of the 5th and 6th Ward residents along with keeping the off-campus community better informed regarding police and neighborhood issues," the department said in a news release.

According to police, students need to realize that frequenting bars and parties until the early morning "creates an atmosphere ripe for detrimental or criminal behavior. Students should also be mindful that with an increase in the use and distribution of illegal drugs, there has been a corresponding up-tick in violent crimes often associated with drug activity."

A New Brunswick officer and a Rutgers officer will patrol the Rutgers residential neighborhoods in a marked New Brunswick police cruiser, the departments said. The initiative started last Sunday. The officers will each attend the same daily "muster" at the New Brunswick police headquarters. Officials believe that the new strategy will help improve communication between the two departments.

Earlier this month, Rutgers announced that it would start sending campus-wide crime alerts for incidents that happen off-campus, at both the New Brunswick campus and the Newark campus.

"The joint patrol provides greater presence by (Rutgers University Police Department) in the 5th and 6th Wards of New Brunswick, where many members of the Rutgers community reside," Kenneth Cop, the chief law enforcement official at Rutgers, said in a news release today. "This initiative capitalizes on the positive relationship between the Rutgers Police and the New Brunswick Police, and will facilitate the exchange of information between the two departments to improve public safety."