{"id":2733,"date":"2019-01-17T02:02:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T07:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=2733"},"modified":"2019-01-17T04:12:03","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T09:12:03","slug":"downtown-toms-river-crime-plummeted-after-red-carpet-inn-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2019\/01\/downtown-toms-river-crime-plummeted-after-red-carpet-inn-closure\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown Toms River Crime Plummeted After Red Carpet Inn Closure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_2446\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2446\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2446\" src=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_33-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"The Red Carpet Inn, boarded up, the day it was purchased by Toms River Township, Oct. 30, 2018. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_33-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_33-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_33-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_33-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_33-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_33-681x454.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-2446\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Red Carpet Inn, boarded up, the day it was purchased by Toms River Township, Oct. 30, 2018. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When Toms River residents learned that there were over 750 calls to police regarding the Red Carpet Inn motel over the course of two years, it illustrated a rare blemish on the town\u2019s otherwise safe reputation. Now that the township has shut down the motel and acquired the property, the impact is being felt in the reverse \u2013 with a dramatic decrease in crime coinciding with the Water Street motel\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n<p>According to police figures, between Oct. 30 and\u00a0\u00a0Dec. 31,\u00a02018 in the downtown area:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Burglaries were reduced by 50%<\/li>\n<li>Narcotics incidents dropped 55%<\/li>\n<li>Theft was reduced 12.5%<\/li>\n<li>Arrests dropped 16.6%<\/li>\n<li>Assaults fell 40%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The township completed the taking of the property Oct. 30 and immediate shut it down and boarded up exposed areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe largest decline occurred in disorderly persons\u2019 incidents, which dropped from 13-to-1 or 92 percent,\u201d said Mayor Thomas F. Kelaher, a former county prosecutor.<\/p>\n<p>Disorderly persons offenses is the term New Jersey uses for what most states refer to as a misdemeanor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis reveals a clear correlation between increased crime and safety concerns driven by the motel\u2019s operation,\u201d said Kelaher. \u201cSince the closure of the Red Carpet Inn, statistics show that crime in the entire neighborhood came down.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2444\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2444\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2444\" src=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_32-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"A chain and lock on the door of the Red Carpet Inn after being purchased by the municipal government of Toms River, Oct. 29, 2018. (Photo: Daniel Nee)\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_32-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_32-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_32-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_32-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_32-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_32-681x454.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-2444\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A chain and lock on the door of the Red Carpet Inn after being purchased by the municipal government of Toms River, Oct. 29, 2018. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Police Chief Mitch Little said the police department worked closely with township officials and the recently-created Quality of Life Task Force to identify and address pressing issues facing the community. It was that work that initially led to the motel being declared a legal nuisance, which paved the way for the township to purchase the property.<\/p>\n<p>Councilman Terrance Turnbach, whose ward includes the downtown area, said the drop in crime will be a major factor in attracting redevelopment and new businesses to the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn order for our downtown businesses to grow and prosper, the public must feel safe to come down and enjoy all that our downtown has to offer,\u201d he said. \u201cThe purchase of the Red Carpet Inn by the Township, and the resulting significant decline in criminal activity, demonstrates the Township\u2019s commitment to the revitalization of our downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fb-share-button fcbkbttn_large_button \" data-href=\"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2019\/01\/downtown-toms-river-crime-plummeted-after-red-carpet-inn-closure\/\" data-type=\"button_count\" data-size=\"large\"><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Toms River residents learned that there were over 750 calls to police regarding the Red Carpet Inn motel over the course of two years, it illustrated a rare blemish on the town\u2019s otherwise safe reputation. Now that the township has shut down the motel and acquired the property, the impact is being felt in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3,4],"tags":[770,650,141,465,11],"class_list":["post-2733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-police-fire-courts","tag-crime","tag-downtown-redevelopment","tag-downtown-toms-river","tag-red-carpet-inn","tag-toms-river-nj-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/red_carpet_inn_toms_river_nj_33.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}