Peterson’s Breaking News of Trenton

May 17, 2022 (Trenton, NJ). Today, Dress for Success Central New Jersey (DFSCNJ) and Trenton Central High School (TCHS) held a Grand Opening event attended by Mayor W. Reed Gusciora for DFSCNJ’s new satellite program, the DFSCNJ Business Academy, at the high school.

The satellite program will provide free career clothing and accessories such as shoes, handbags and jewelry to female students to encourage them to take advantage of career mentoring, job preparedness and financial literacy workshops offered by DFSCNJ. Students will take their new skills, with their new career outfits, to college and/or job interviews. Students will be required to attend one or more DFSCNJ workshops in order to have access to the clothing boutique. The goal is to hold a workshop on Personal Branding and Image Enhancement and a Latina Empowerment workshop.

“The day that was discussed and planned over a year ago is finally here,” said Mary Courtney, Principal, TCHS. “Dress for Success is a great organization with programs that will help develop our girls personally and professionally while channeling them to build their self-esteem.” TCHS Finance Teacher, Crystal Feliciano, said, “I am excited for what’s to come and I am grateful to Principal Courtney, the School Board, and the administration for allowing this wonderful opportunity for our students here at Trenton Central High School. Most of all, I’m so glad that when I discussed the possibility of a partnership with Melissa at Dress for Success, her immediate response without hesitation or reservation was yes!”

As the young women looked at the selection of styles and accessories in the suite during the ceremony, Melissa Tenzer looked on with pride. “It is really inspiring to watch these students get to the next level,” Tenzer said. “To see their confidence grow, to know that they can go on an interview and make their dreams come true is truly amazing to witness. Leadership is born when women are given the tools to succeed. These students are our future, we are honored to be helping to prepare them to be the next generation of leaders.”

“I am extremely grateful for this wonderful opportunity,” Feliciano said. “This is what it’s all about, working together to help one another to grow stronger; I’m so happy for our students and for the exciting journey ahead.”

For more information about DFSCNJ visit centralnj.dressforsucess.org

TRENTON, N.J. (PBN) The Trenton community is mourning the death of retired Trenton Police Detective Randall Hanson.

According to Hamilton Brenna Cellini funeral homes Randall N. Hanson, age 52, of Hamilton, passed away on Saturday, May 7, 2022, at Capital Health at Hopewell. Born in Demopolis, Alabama, he had resided in the Trenton area since he was four years old. Randall was a retired detective with the Trenton Police Department, where he was employed for 25 years and served on the Trenton Police Honor Guard. He was a graduate of Nottingham High School Class of 1988; upon graduating, he enlisted into the U.S. Marines, serving his country honorably during the Persian Gulf War. As he was affectionately known, Randy loved bodybuilding and going to the gym. In the 2002 Mr. New Jersey Body Building competition, Randy won his weight class. He loved to give back to his community by doing outreach events. His children were his pride and joy.
According to his obituary, Son of the late Richard Hanson; brother of the late Daniel Hanson; Randall is survived by his mother, Ann (Braswell) Jones; his wife, Melissa (Fox) Hanson; his three beloved children, Liberty, Layla, and Sagan Hanson; his step-siblings, Lisa Merritt, and Rob Merritt and wife Stacy; a brother-in-law, Jeff Fox; and a special friend, Margarita Santiago; as well as many other family members and friends.

Trenton Residents and friends took to Facebook once learning the passing of Hanson

“Thank you for being such a positive person in life. Thank you for your service and for always caring about the community. “

“Thank you for your friendship, and you will be missed. My prayers are with your friends and family. RIP Randall Hanson”

“RIP Randall. It was a pleasure having you in our Unit during the Trenton Gang Wars of 04, 05 and 06. I knew you had my 6 and you could take down a door with ease. Beside that you were a kind man, a gentle Giant. Rest in peace my friend. You will be missed.”

“I’m just shocked beyond belief. This man was a good, caring and lovable man. He was a great father and loved his children more than words can express. I met him through his first wife when we worked together. We’ve been friends ever since. When he met Margari I was so happy for him because he told me she was his peace and the love of his life. I can only imagine what she is going through. My deepest and sincerest condolences go out to the Hansen family and his beloved Margari. Rest In Peace my friend”

Calling hours will be held Saturday, May 14, 2022 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at the Hamilton Brenna-Cellini Funeral Home, 2365 Whitehorse-Mercerville Rd., Hamilton, NJ 08619. 

I write this as a Trenton taxpayer who lives in the Hiltonia section of the city. I am very concerned about the repeated effort to fire the current Police Director, Steve Wilson. This is not the effort of the Mayor, who hires the director and ultimately has the responsibility of firing him for lack of performance. This action is being driven by the City Council. The question for me is what has revived this effort after all the pushback from residents in support of the Director? The initial effort was tabled and now, without any evidence proving the Director is not meeting expectations of our city’s residents, the Administration or the Police Department, the City Council plans to vote for his removal.

Is this about the number of homicides resulting from gun violence, or is something else at play? As a resident of the City of Trenton, I believe we the residents deserve an explanation. Such a critical decision should be made based on data and not emotion. Yes, public safety is a very emotional topic but resolving the issue of gun violence will never be accomplished by emotional decision making. What I find difficult to understand is blaming Director Wilson for a problem that he did not make. The Director has only been in office less than a year.

Let’s look at the facts, for two consecutive years Trenton has experienced 40 homicides resulting from gun violence. In a city where 30% of the residents live at or below the poverty level a high crime rate can be expected. The hopelessness, desperation and trauma cause people to make very bad choices. In 2020, I was commissioned by the 4Cs (Capitol City Community Coalition) to facilitate an activity to uncover the root causes of Trenton gun violence. With the assistance of (6) Six Sigma and process volunteers and nearly 70 residents and stakeholders of Trenton, over multiple days, a total of six hours in a fishbone (root cause) analysis determined that the primary causes of Trenton gun violence were:

1. Childhood Trauma

2. High Levels of Poverty

3. The Need for Business Relationships to Create Good Paying Jobs

4. Collaborative Policing and Community Engagement

5. Prison, Community Reform/Culture Change

2020 root cause diagrams of violence in Trenton

Of the five causes determined to be at the root of Trenton gun violence, only number four had to do with policing. Police Director Wilson attended the very first presentation of the findings at a 4Cs meeting attended by the Acting AG Andrew Bruck and other leadership in law enforcement. Upon seeing the results, he immediately approached me about community engagement efforts of re-establishing the Police Explorers and the Police Activities League formerly known as the Police Athletic League (P.A.L.) by working with Trenton School District and community volunteers. The Director said, “The way to support the students in the city was to ensure the program was more than just sport and play but also about learning and skills development”.

As for collaborative policing and partnerships, Director Wilson reestablished relationships with multiple agencies. The Mercer County Prosecutor’s office and the Sheriff have dedicated personnel to the Shooting Response Team raising the solve rate from approximately 12% to 55%. The Director has solidified relationships with the FBI, NJ Division of Criminal Justice, State Police, Ewing and Lawrence Police (they help out with patrol) and the DEA. The data indicates that Director Wilson has solved a greater percentage of homicides than his predecessor.

Director Wilson-from 7-1-2021 to 4-25-2022, there were 36 shooting Homicides/20 Solved with a 55% clearance

Director Coley-from 7-1-2020 to 4-25-2021, there were 27 Shooting homicides/12 solved with a 44% clearance

(This data was provided by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office)

I am troubled by the actions of the City Council. If someone in authority takes a position based solely on opinion, emotion and vengefulness with no basis or grounding in fact or truth; data or evidence, it can be viewed as an abuse of power and authority. My teacher, in a lecture in 2007 entitled, “The Use and Abuse of Authority,” said, “One cannot exercise authority properly in ignorance. He asked, “Do we exercise our authority in conformity with morality, reason, justice and truth, or do we just exercise it because we have it?”

For me, the ignorance here refers to not having a clear knowledge and understanding of issues, the subject matter, the rationale or the potential pain and consequences of making a poor decision. The question that needs to be asked is, “What drives the decision making?” My prayer is that the City Council will reconsider their plan, listen to the citizens and stop the persecution of Director Wilson. We really need the branches of our city government to work more collaboratively in making Trenton a safer place to live.