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Trenton Mayor Asks Christie for $46.4M to Combat Surge in Homicides

Mayor Tony Mack, who laid off 100 police officers in 2011 amid sweeping city budget cuts, sent the letter before a violent weekend in Trenton that included four homicides and brought the city's total for the year to 27. The record for homicides in Trenton is 31 set in 2005.

Trenton Mayor Tony Mack sent a letter to Gov. Chris Christie on Friday asking for the state for $46.4 million in state aid to hire 75 police officers and pay their salaries for four years to battle the surge in violent crime in the state's capital.

 
Mack, who laid off 100 police officers in 2011 amid sweeping city budget cuts, sent the letter before a violent weekend in Trenton that included four homicides and brought the city's total for the year to 27. The record for homicides in Trenton is 31 set in 2005.
 
The proposed hiring of 75 officers would cost $10 million in the first year and increase to $13 million by fiscal year 2017.
 
"We are asking Governor Christie and our legislators to find $10,100,000, to stem the tidal wave of blood that is being spilled in the shadow of the State House," Mack said in a statement issued with the release of his letter to Christie. "I guarantee that every dollar will be used for the purposes of hiring police."
Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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