for years Paterson locals have complained about violence and other crimes that stem from illegal nightclubs in the city last year alone Paterson Police statistics show nearly one out of every five shootings there had a connection to Illegal clubs now with a state appointed officer in charge of the department law enforcement leaders are planning to tackle the problem deploying a new task force to take down the illicit operations senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan has the details everybody agrees this is a cancer on the city Paterson's Top Cop says an illegal nightclub scenes operated for years on the down low here but it's now the target of a new police task force that will try to block a criminal pipeline he says stretches across the river into New York we're importing problems we're bringing problems in from New York from other counties from other cities around New Jersey bringing them into Paterson because this is has gone on unchecked for far too long officer in charge Isa Abbassi Isa Abbassi says the clubs often flourish in neighborhoods like this one where they impact residents quality of life and set the stage for serious criminal activity these are not just places for people to drink right these are places where you see human trafficking you see narcotics you see assaults you see victimization nearly one in five shootings stem from or have some Nexus 2 illegal nightlife activity why do they keep popping up look part of the problem is the lack of Regulation they feel like they can operate without any fear of any consequences mayor Andre sha who opposed the New Jersey attorney general's takeover of Paterson Police does support this plan it'll partner cops with the state divisions of Criminal Justice and Alcoholic Beverage Control Plus County and local resources and will prosecute both criminal and civil offenses the owner of the property the patrons themselves the person in control of the premise the night we get there the DJ everybody is going to be subject to the strictest enforcement possible and it's going to be costly it's going on a year since the state took over Paterson's Police Department this club Crackdown is part of an overall mission to improve quality of life and transparency with Police Operations Justice for protesters called for reforms in the wake of high-profile police shootings including the Naji Seabrooks Seabrooks case last March the AG brought in a bossi a retired NYPD official to restore order in Patterson's Department a recent report of internal affairs investigation shows 18 Paterson officers suspended last year compared to one the year prior and 44 sustained complaints compared to just a couple in 2022 Paterson's crime rate also so declined last year we asked residents about it it doesn't feel like it's any any better or safer no not really not to me I haven't seen you know a lot of crime being committed like in the last maybe 6 months or something meanwhile Paterson's Police Department's challenging the Attorney General's take over in court and seya supports the suit we're saying that he doesn't have the authority to take over a police department but you're seeing the crime rate go down the crime going down police officers held to account the crime rate was going down before it was you don't think the state had anything to do with this the first three months of last year before the state came in we saw a precipitous decline in crime Paterson's nightclub task force will hit the ground running starting the spring Abasi says he warned operators to consider this a heads up in Patterson I'm Brenda Flanaigan NJ Spotlight News NJ Spotlight News [Music]