Mayor Marty Small & Atlantic City Partners Have Delivered Peace

This is the story that I’ve been praying to be able to write. Atlantic City often gets a bad wrap. Here’s a good news story.

After one night of rioting and looting, the Atlantic City Police, New Jersey State Police, Atlantic County SWAT Team, Atlantic County Sheriff Officers and other mutual aid from local police departments, along with federal assets, they successfully buttoned-down The World’s Playground (WPG) tighter than a drum.

By night two, there was no rioting. No looting. No broken windows. No destruction of any other property.

I also want to make it clear that I strongly believe that the Atlantic City Police Department and their working partners also did a great job on day/night 1.

They faced hundreds (300 plus) criminals roaming the streets of Atlantic City over many hours. The criminals indiscriminately broke storefront windows and looted stores at Tanger Outlets The Walk and other stores along Atlantic Avenue.

We have maintained from the beginning that the criminals were largely from out of state. Now, I can share the following. Out of the 17 arrests that were made on day/night 1, only four were locals.

The Atlantic City Police Officers demonstrated great restraint and you couldn’t have asked for them to do a better job under more dangerous conditions.

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small deserves a lot of credit for his leadership.

Small placed himself right in the middle of the rioters (see attached photo) and stood stoically at The Walk while the rioting and looting was going on in broad daylight.

The look on Small’s face tells the whole story. Here was a life-long Atlantic City resident who was bravely staring down criminals, looting in his town. Small’s actions were as courageous as it gets.

So many leaders have failed us during our current twin crises. Small has risen to the challenge. He’s answered the bell, time and time, again.

Small’s leadership during the coronavirus pandemic and now during this current crisis has been exceptional.

A special note of thanks to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. I spoke with Governor Murphy on-the-air during our live, special 7 hours of coverage. This was in real time, while the rioting and looting was underway.

Governor Murphy pledged and then provided Atlantic City with New Jersey State Police Officers and other materially helpful state assets that directly helped to achieve the peace.

This favorable result can not overstated, because the presence of these criminals was terrorizing to the residents of Atlantic City and surrounding communities.

Most cities that have been victim of these attacks across America, have experienced multiple nights of damage, rioting and looting.

Many were concerned going into night 2 in Atlantic City. Would the rioting and looting continue? It did not.

As long as they can maintain their well earned peace, this is a great success story.

We’ll continue to be your prime source for all of the breaking news during our time of supreme challenge.