These incidents after Paterson's Dominican Parade cost at least $30K in police overtime
PATERSON — City officials are paying more than $30,000 for the extra police officers deployed during Paterson’s recent Dominican parade, but the cost may increase substantially because of problems that took place afterward.
With thousands of outsiders coming to Paterson for the Sept. 18 parade, there were loud parties all over the city for many hours after the event, authorities said. In some cases, people staged impromptu block parties, using private vehicles to close off streets without city permission, officials said.
“We had people from Pennsylvania, from New York, from Connecticutt,” said Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale. “We had thousands of people from out of town.”
Across the weekend of the parade, Paterson police issued 349 motor vehicle tickets, ordered 48 vehicles to be towed and wrote 139 summonses for violation of city ordinances for such things as public drinking and noise, Speziale said. Police also made 11 arrests of people involved in the festivities, including six on drug charges, two for alleged weapons possession and three for disorderly offenses.
Officials said Paterson still has not tabulated overtime costs for the post-parade police efforts.
About 150 cops were deployed during the parade, according to the city’s contract with the event’s organizers, Desfile Dominicano de New Jersey.
Under that contract, the total cost for police parade coverage from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 18 was estimated to be $56,240, with city taxpayers covering 60% and the parade organizers the rest. Prominent Paterson developer Charles Florio said he donated $25,000 to the parade group to cover its security expenses.
Parade organizers could not be reached for comment.
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The parade has been held in Paterson for more than two decades. In most years, there also had been a post-parade festival sponsored by the parade group. But that did not happen this year.
With no festival, police said, the post-parade parties were widely scattered around the city, making it much harder to maintain order.
“I think the Paterson police did a good job keeping everything under control,” said Councilman Luis Velez, who represents Paterson’s 5th Ward, where many of the post-parade parties took place.
There were two stabbings and one shooting in the 5th Ward on the day of the parade, but authorities have not confirmed any connection between those crimes and the festivities.
“We didn’t experience any problems with the actual parade,” said Mayor Andre Sayegh. “However, it might be feasible in the future to have a festival after the parade in a more controlled environment such as Hinchliffe Stadium.”
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.
Email: editor@patersonpress.com