Violent Crime Causes Morristown Residents to Raise Safety Concerns

Chris and Christine Bitler, who live on Phoenix Avenue, brought their worries about the safety of their neighborhood to the Morristown council meeting this week.

“There’s a group … of our neighbors and friends, who are solid, good, decent taxpaying professional people who work hard, go to work, raise our kids, we care about our community … we own our homes … we feel like we’re surrounded by an element of real unsafety,” said Christine Bitler.

“In the over 11 years that we’ve lived on Phoenix, on the weekends we notice heavy traffic and speeding on our street in all hours of the night,” said Chris Bitler. “Come to find out that a large part of that traffic … was due to a recent drug bust on that street that occurred about a month ago … Since then traffic has decreased.”

Christine Bitler added that the drug bust occurred “in a house that I could see from my house, which is unthinkable to me. They found a cache of weapons, more weapons than drugs. Every member was arrested in that household. (It was) a five-year undercover operation.”

She also brought up the speeding and drag racing that has occurred on her street for several years.

“They speed, they race, they don’t stop,” she said.

However, a recent incident that occurred “just a week ago” brought this couple out to Tuesday’s council meeting.

The incident involved a person being chased by another, they explained.

“Last Wednesday evening, a violent crime took place in my backyard … that went from Western (Avenue) to my backyard, through my fence, my front yard … through my property and eventually caught him,” Chrstine Bitler said. 

“This victim made his way, after a few minutes, back up to my street. I had never encountered anyone so badly beaten. He was using his torn shirt to stamp the blood on his face. He was covered in whelps and bruises. He was beaten up in broad daylight at 5 p.m. on Cobb Place, and they got away with it. I don’t know how that is possible. He’s 19 or 20 years old and he’s not a thug.”

She continued, “I was on my porch and offered to call him an ambulance. I had already called 911 and police were on their way. He refused help. He was badly injured, could barely walk. He said no police, no ambulance.”

Bitler said after the police and detective showed up, they took forensic evidence and “said that it was likely a drug deal gone bad because they found stuff that … they indicated was drug-related hidden in the bushes that somebody dropped.”

The Bitlers have a son, who they have raised in Morristown, but now say that although they love their house and the town, they’re “seriously considering moving because I don’t feel safe … It’s not ok to for me to live like that. This is my house, my property, I will not live in fear. I will not lock myself up in my house and fear for my child’s safety.”

Councilwoman Alison Deeb, whose area includes the 4th Ward, said, “There were two people from the fourth ward, and I’m very concerned about the horrible incident that was described." She asked Police Chief Peter Demnitz to shed some light on this incident to the council.

“I’m not going to talk about the incident specifically … The best police operations are always a cooperation between the public and the police,” said Demnitz. “I’m wondering of they have a neighborhood association.

"Every time we have an incident in this town … I will go to your home and I always advocate for the residents working together with the police. I always say, there’s a huge amount of energy after an incident like this, but then that energy goes away until another incident.”

He added that although it’s difficult today for neighbors to unite, it is a good way to help prevent crime.

“I get single parent families and I get double income families and I get the fast pace of this world and this town … and the impact it has on people to get to know their neighbors and get a sense of community back (but) if you want to prevent things like this and you want to feel safer, you can not put it all on the police,” said Demnitz.

Deeb asked if there could be increased patrolling, but Demnitz said that, “You’ve heard from Abbett Avenue … Phoenix Avenue, Wetmore Avenue and they want more police on their streets too. We can do our part, but that’s only part. The best way to make neighborhoods safe is for the citizens to become involved.”

Deeb suggested the police could conduct sessions about neighborhood safety and “solicit some volunteers to host” these informational sessions for their neighborhood.