CITY OF NEWBURGH - Violent crimes significantly dropped in the City of Newburgh in 2018, according to police, continuing a downward trend in gun violence since 2015.

Newburgh police hosted a news conference on Thursday at the police headquarters on Grand Street to sort through the numbers and discuss the department's multi-faceted approach to curbing gun violence.

Former City Manager Michael Ciaravino said last year that Newburgh's 2017 crime rates reached a 10-year low. Though data from Thursday was not comprehensive, focusing just on violent crimes involving guns, it appears overall crime continues to decline.

Police recorded an 80 percent decrease in shooting victims over the past three years. City police Chief Doug Solomon said thus far in 2019, there have been two bullet-to-body shootings.

In 2018, there were 53 percent fewer shooting victims, 50 percent fewer aggravated assaults involving a gun and a 30 percent reduction in gunpoint robberies compared to 2017, according to the statistics.

There were two homicides in 2018, down from six homicides in each of 2017 and 2016.

Solomon said equipment, such as ShotSpotter and city-wide street surveillance cameras, initiatives like "custom notifications" following shootings, and a thoughtful approach to community policing has collectively reduced violent crime over the past few years.

He said the Gun Involved Violence Elimination, or GIVE, program is at the heart of violent crime deterrence.

Police are also giving non-fatal shootings and homicides equal amounts of attention, Solomon said.

Do people feel safe?

Arthur L. King, 64, moved to Newburgh in 1975. King works at the ice cream parlor in Simple Gifts and Goodies on the corner of Liberty Street and Benkard Avenue.

King recalled Thursday how beautiful the area was in the '70s, with flowers lining the sidewalks outside stores and people walking the streets.

Fixing blighted areas would not only deter crime, but also make people feel safer, he said.

"If you live in the hood, the streets are dirty and the buildings are abandoned buildings, then quite naturally that's a breeding ground for the drug dealers, but now we're trying to clean it up. And we are going to clean it up," King said.

Peter Hopper, who was critical of police as he grew up in Newburgh, said he never really felt unsafe. Overall, he has noticed certain areas becoming less dangerous, but he doesn't believe an inner-city community can ever be 100 percent safe.

"A lot of it is amongst people having problems with themselves," he said, clarifying that most violence appears to be personal instead of people going after others at random.

Artist Elizabeth Grubaugh, of Tuxedo, said she has noticed the area near where she works on Spring Street, near Liberty Street, has calmed over the past five years. She believes new business activity north on Liberty has cultivated a safer environment and hopes to see development spread to the southern end of the street.

C.P.R.T. reaches out

Det. Lt. Joe Cortez, along with officers Dellauno Thomas, Daniel D'Elicio, and Michael Wall are attending community meetings, strolling along on foot patrols, studying group violence intervention and mentoring kids in the junior cadet program. The four of them make up the Community Progressive Response Team.

In many ways, they are the face of the department to people who may not usually encounter police. They talk to people. Thomas, being a native of Newburgh, is new to the department but a familiar face to people who live in the city, Cortez said.

They are tasked with finding the sweet spot between having a cheerful presence and tackling serious police matters that could arise.

"We still are the police and we still have to enforce the laws, but there's a certain way you could be able to bridge the gap with the community," Cortez said.

lbellamy@th-record.com