Newark Police Officer Levecy DeOliveira's body camera zeroes in on a driver during a traffic stop on Frelinghuysen Avenue last week. As part of the federal consent decree of 2014, Newark Police are equipped with body cameras and dashboard cameras in their vehicles now. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance)

By Mark Di Ionno | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

If I did ride-alongs with Newark police every night, it would be the safest city in the world.

I’ve gone on a half-dozen of these things when nothing ever happened.

The most recent was a car-racing task force patrolling the industrial belly of the beast along Doremus Avenue.

That’s where the tuner boys in their souped-up Mitsubishis and Hondas would race on the straightway past the ship container yards, scrap metal dumps and power plants, the new speed bumps be damned.

This wasn’t just fun and games. Sgt. Tommaso Popolizio was killed on March 3, 2007, by a street racer. Cops have long memories on such things.

But when I went out with the police on a summer Saturday night, two years ago, there was no racing in the street. Word had spread through social media that the cops were out, and the tuners turned around and went home.

Don't Edit

Using a radar gun, Newark Police Officer Levecy DeOliveira checks for speeders along Frelinghuysen Avenue. The Newark Police are using more body cameras and cameras in their vehicles now. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)

In 2011, after Sam DeMaio took over as police director, I went out with his newly beefed-up night patrols in high-crime areas. It was summer in one the most dangerous sectors and … not one emergency call, except for a suspicious person near a vacant building.

I was expecting more of the same when NJ Advance Media NJ Advance Media photographer Aristides Economopoulos and I went on a ride-along last Tuesday night, as part of story about the expanding use of body cameras by the department.

Don't Edit

While wearing his body camera, Newark Police Officer Levecy DeOliveira talks to a driver who was involved in a minor accident. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)

We were put in a Newark police SUV with officer Levecy DeOliveira, a three-year veteran of the force and former Navy Corpsman. He was on traffic control, sitting with a radar gun on Frelinghuysen Avenue.

He showed us how the dashboard and body cameras worked; how they were automatically activated when he hit the emergency lights.

He pulled two cars over within 15 minutes. He ran the plates and a computer screen of information revealed driving record, outstanding warrants, etc.

On his way back from the first stop, DeOliveira paused in front of a corner of Astor Street and Sherman Avenue, its own belly of the beast of drug traffic and prostitution.

He hit the loudspeaker. “Let’s clean the corner up,” he said, and a group of young men and teens ambled away.

A young woman, a street person, pleasantly hollered out to him. He returned pleasantries.

“You’ve got to treat everybody like a human,” DeOliveira said. “No matter what their story is, they’re still people.”

Don't Edit

Newark Police Officer Levecy DeOliveira talks over the radio as he walks back to his police SUV while on a traffic stop. ((Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)

And so here we were, another quiet day on the streets of Newark. And then, as DeOliveira predicted, “things can go from zero to 100 pretty quickly.”

Back on Frelinghuysen, a beat-up white Ford van was doing about 50 in a 25.

DeOliveira pursued and the van made a right hand turned on Astor, then abruptly turned left into the intersection. The driver, a skinny guy in a white t-shirt, was talking on a cellphone when he saw DeOliveira out the driver’s side window.

He gunned the van, and whipped around the corner of Astor and Sherman. DeOliveira followed but not as fast, and the very same people he told “to clean up the corner” were now pointing down the street to the van and cheering on the cop to catch it.

Don't Edit

Newark Police Officer Levecy DeOliveira is reflected in the rear view mirror while making his rounds during traffic enforcement. The Newark Police are using more body cameras and cameras in their vehicles now. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)

What happened next is an example of how much the Newark Police Department has changed since the days when the city was the car theft capital of the world -- and the most recent change is the body cameras.

In the early 1990s, stolen car chases sometimes ended in deaths.

Innocent people who were in the right place at the wrong time, were killed as speeding teens ran red lights and stop signs or jumped curbs with the police on their tails. In a few cases, police shot the suspects. One young man died. In other cases, there were conflicting claims of police over-reaction. Dash cams and body cams would have told the truth.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Newark Police Officer Levecy DeOliveira runs a drivers license history while on a traffic stop. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)

After several blocks on Sherman Avenue, then up Peddie Street against traffic, even crossing busy Elizabeth Avenue, DeOliveira abruptly gave up the chase.

“It’s coming across (the on-board computer) as a stolen car,” he said as he confirmed it with a supervisor. “We don’t chase stolen cars any more. It’s not worth putting the public at risk. Now, if it’s a carjacking, that’s a different story.”

Is this a kinder, gentler Newark P.D.?

“We have to remember we’re in the customer service business, that we have to treat everybody fair and with dignity,” said Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose. “We’re not going soft, but we can’t do things the old way. In some ways, this was long overdue.”

Don't Edit

The Panasonic MK3 Body camera worn by Newark Police Officers. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)

Following a 2010 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. Department of Justice began to investigate the Newark police for allegations of excessive force, unconstitutional stops, searches and seizures and racial discrimination in arrests. One other charge was that the police retaliated against people who tried to observe or record police activity.

Don't Edit

A camera records Newark Police Officer Levecy DeOliveira approaches a car at a traffic stop. The cameras automatically start recording once the officer engages the lights on the police car. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)

The body and dash cameras, which were introduced precinct by precinct beginning last year, are another way the Newark police are cooperating with the decree.

“What we want here are the three Ts: transparency, truth, and trust,” said Ambrose. “There’s no doubt that the trust between police and the community – nationwide – has eroded because of a few bad shootings. The cameras help us get to the truth of an incident, one way or another, to help rebuild that trust.”

For that reason, Ambrose said, any officer who intentionally shuts off their cameras will be prosecuted, and there are random monitors of the about 10 percent of footage by a precinct supervisor and an integrity control officer.

“When they come in from their shift, they download right away,” Ambrose said.

Since the cameras were introduced, Ambrose said, civilian complaints are down 27 percent.

Don't Edit

This camera is focused on the backseat of a Newark police SUV. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media)

“Our biggest complaints are demeanor complaints … ‘the officer was rude’ … ‘the officer didn’t listen,’” Ambrose said.

In many cases, the cameras “exonerated” cops that citizens complained about, Ambrose said. “In other case, a cop got disciplined for not following through on a traffic stop where the driver had committed a host of moving violations and had warrants out.

“The footage gets us to the truth, even if we don’t like it,” Ambrose said. “And if we don’t like it, the public has to trust we’ll take care of it, through suspensions or even firing a guy. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Don't Edit

Read more by Mark Di Ionno

Positive ID of 9/11 victim after 17 years brings 'no closure' for Montclair mom

A field of dreams for the blind boys of summer

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Mark Di Ionno may be reached at mdiionno@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkDiIonno. Find NJ.com on Facebook.