The Ruins of Trenton

Trenton City police officials said the perpetrator in Monday's knife attack in the heart of downtown Trenton had mental problems and was a criminal well-known to Mercer County law enforcement officials, seemingly on the defensive about the violent crime seeping into an area of Trenton generally known for its lack of public safety issues.

"The suspect Evans is a deeply troubled individual prone to violence," said Trenton Police Director Joseph Santiago in a statement in the Times. "He is well-known to police throughout Mercer County."

Suspect Maurice Evans allegedly attacked a City Hall employee, stabbing the victim and two Good Samaritans who intervened, and then fleeing down East State Street only to be apprehended by Trenton City police.

Trenton officials - including Mayor Douglas Palmer - gave credit to the supposed constant Trenton police presence downtown in the quick apprehension of the suspect.

But anonymous police sources said the apprehending officers were both from patrol groups stationed in other parts of the city, and not from the supposed police presence constantly guarding a few downtown businesses and thousands of state workers from the crime plaguing the other parts of the city.

While Trenton City officials continually say "Crime is Down, Crime is Down" ever more brazen criminals are venturing into supposedly safe areas of town and preying on innocent victims going about their everyday business in the city.

Maybe if there were more police officers hired to relieve the current overworked and undermanned staff, the city could afford to provide a real blanket of coverage for not only downtown, but the neighborhoods where Trentonians actually live themselves.

More officers won't cure the crime, but it will give us well-rested and vigilant officers well-equipped to make life-and-death decisions in dangerous situations like the one that happened in the shadows of City Hall Monday morning.