lawmakers are getting into the thick of the state budget process with the first departmental budget hearing today in Trenton first up State Attorney General Matt platkin whose office has lately taken a tough on crime approach and according to New Jersey's top law enforcement officer keeping that up comes with a price Ted Goldberg reports New Jersey attorney general Matt platkin is asking for more than 447 million dollars in the state's next budget five percent more money than last year he says it's necessary for New Jersey to continue to keep crime down in 2022 and this I think is critical the number of shooting victims in the state dropped by 25 percent each of our major cities experienced a double-digit percentage decline from Camden to Jersey City our communities were safer last year than the year before placen spoke with the Senate's budget and Appropriations Committee today touting the accomplishments of his first 14 months in office he says that includes fewer stolen cars we were able to bolster these efforts with 10 million dollars made available by Governor Murphy to increase the availability of a critical tool automated license plate readers to combat auto theft and violent crime as well as a public awareness campaign to reinforce the need to keep our cars locked as of February Auto thefts declined by 27 percent when compared to the same month last year placan says his department will need more money now that the Patterson Police Department is under his control I believe there's a crisis of confidence in law enforcement in that City The Fragile Trust between the community and law enforcement has been decimated and without that trust there can be no Public Safety doing this right require financial support it would be unrealistic to expect otherwise resources you mentioned that there may be resources that are needed from the state can you elaborate on that since we are the budget committee I don't have a full picture yet because we we literally got in there first thing Monday morning last week of the scope of what resources it will take he's also asking for a five-fold increase in funds to expand the arrive together program which pairs a mental health professional and a State Trooper to respond to certain 9-1-1 calls but as plaquin looked towards the future Senator Michael Testa had questions about past Decisions by Governor Murphy's Administration specifically how he chose to spend some of the state's coveted relief funds one expenditure that really stood out to me among many others was the 522 783 dollars spent to purchase eight SUVs to transport the governor and other state officials what I'm struggling to understand is what that has to do with covid-19 I don't have oversight over those funds and I wasn't in government at the time that that decision was made so it wouldn't be appropriate I think for me to comment the governor used almost 1 million dollars specifically 981 thousand dollars of covid money to hire full-time employees in the division of civil rights to enforce certain State housing laws including a new law enacted last year to make it much harder for apartment owners to refuse tenancy to convicted felons what is the covid connection that justifies using covid relief money to enforce a new law meant to integrate individuals with records into apartment buildings Senator again I I don't have oversight over ARP funds nor the justification for uh they were used I am confident the administration did everything appropriately the Attorney General's office is also asking to continue funding efforts to prevent pop-up parties like what we saw down the shore last summer in Trenton I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news thank you