Mayor Ras Baraka is turning to an old friend of the city as he begins a drastic overhaul of its public safety system.
Anthony Ambrose was officially revealed as the city's acting public safety director at a City Hall press conference Monday morning. In the newly created position, he will oversee the city's police, fire and emergency management departments.
With the full Municipal Council at his side, Baraka said the move would reduce burdensome bureaucracy in all of the departments — saving more than $500,000 in the process — while increasing accountability and freeing up new hands to help with the city's battle with crime. Ambrose is a local law enforcement veteran who has served as the chief of detectives with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office since 2008. He cut his teeth as an officer in Newark, rising to become police chief and police director between 1999 and 2006.
He then joined the Essex County Sheriff's Office as an undersheriff before moving to the prosecutor's office, where he supervised investigations into homicides and other major offenses. ... Raul Malave, a longtime battalion chief with the city's fire department, will take over as deputy public safety director. Fire Chief John Centanni and Police Chief Anthony Campos both remain in their current positions, though several sources have told NJ Advance Media that Campos appears to be on his way out of the department.
Eugene Venable, who Baraka had appointed police director when he took office last year, will remain with the force in an unspecified command staff role, according to Baraka. Fire Director James Stewart, who now finds himself without a position, is expected to retire.