New crime reports out of Newark show that getting a handle on criminal activity continues to be a complicated challenge for city leaders.

On the one hand, good news as the murder rate dropped over the last year, but other violent crimes rose during the same time period, calling into question how the city can actually take on the task of keeping its citizens safer.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan got reaction from city leaders to the latest crime stats.

We realized that we can't arrest our way out of this issue, and since we've changed, our approach is improved our strategy.

Newark officials announced the city saw fewer murders this year, a continuing downward trend.

But the rate of other violent crimes rose by double digits in 2024.

It's a setback city leaders attributed to several issues, especially a spike in domestic violence, says the new deputy mayor of public safety, Lakisha Ury.

Domestic violence incidents are because of financial issues.

People are staying in houses with their abusers because they can't afford to move, because they want to keep their families together, because they want to keep the children in the house with the the person who may be the abuser.

The surge in domestic violence ties into police reports of more stabbings and aggravated assaults.

50% of those aggravated assaults are domestic violence related.

So we're working with the Shawnee Baraka Center.

We're working with the Office of Violence Prevention.

We're working with the prosecutor's office to address that in 2025 and bring those numbers down.

Community activists also explained Newark's expanding migrant populations become a robbery target.

We found out that they keep large of large sums of money on themselves because they're unable to go to banks and open up bank accounts, and they may be living with friends and families and people that they may not know.

So that's known now.

And they are a large, targeted population.

The numbers show Newark's violent crime rate rose almost 28% this year.

But the homicide rate fell by 21%.

And overall violent crimes have trended downward by 10% last year, along with an 8% drop in the homicide rate in 2022.

Violent crime fell 6%, homicides by 15%.

We've learned that safety is not merely the absence of violence, but the presence of justice, equity and opportunity.

This work, especially because it represents a collective shift towards prioritizing people over punishment.

Newark officials take a two fold approach that involves both law enforcement and violent crime prevention through community outreach.

The resources are coming to the houses, the resources are coming, said the community.

That's what we do.

We bring in our resources.

Tanya Lewis responds to crisis calls with the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery cases that also involve police officers.

The two groups must coordinate between crime investigation and social or mental health response.

Conflicts have arisen.

The police is doing one thing and the Office of Violence Prevention is doing another.

But we're always working together and collaborating together to ensure that we get to the end goal, and that is to take care of the victim.

We're working with the people who are outside the yellow tape to say hi.

Did you experience anything?

Did you witness anything?

Do you need any assistance?

We have social workers here that you can speak to.

Or if you need to speak to someone in law enforcement, we can navigate that for you.

Marisa baraka's presided over a significant police department shakeup recently, appointing Emanuel Miranda as public safety director and Sharonda Morris as police chief.

Meanwhile, the department continues its progress under court ordered reforms designed to curb excessive force and civil rights abuses.

Nothing works without public safety.

Public safety is the most important aspect of any community.

If people don't feel safe coming out of their homes and moving about the neighborhood, nothing else will work.

Advocates say it's a process that will take training, commitment and funding to regain the public's confidence in its police force.

In Newark, I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.