Once again, the mayors of
New Jersey
and experts came together at the 43rd
Annual NJCM Conference and Exposition to address
problems and solutions for municipalities and their
youth populations. The principle topic was subject
of gangs that have been pervading many communities
throughout the state.
The first main panel consisted of Mayor Gwendolyn
Faison of
Camden; Mayor Robert Bowser of East Orange; Rev. J.
Stanley Justice; NJ State Police Lt. Keith Bevacqui,
Intelligence Section and Mr. Joseph Santiago, Police
Director,
Trenton.
Each of the panelists spoke for several minutes and
responded to questions from the audience.
Rev. Justice stated that "gangs and gang violence
are affecting our schools, churches, homes and
communities." Mayor Bowser added that "we are
talking all the time about homeland security when we
should be talking about domestic security, as well."
All of the speakers expressed the view that the
problem is of a serious nature, and that it would
take a collaborative effort on the part of the
community to fix it.
Lt. Bevacqui considered gangs as terrorists and that
"our biggest problem is denial." He added that we
have a long way to go to fix this problem.
Director Santiago expressed his opinion that the
Police Department is not the only solution to the
gang problem. The solution should include
comprehensive municipal programs such as:
A. Anti-violence task forces
B. Patrols to focus on gang suppression
C. An organized crime task force
D. Social services
E. Youth Development Programs
The Police Director suggested that all agencies must
work and share information together and "there must
be a total overhaul of our bail system."
Mayor Gerald Tarantolo of Eatontown, a member of the
audience asked "what costs have gangs incurred in
our towns?"
Santiago responded, "That you pay up front or you
pay in the end." He suggested that towns reinvest
in recreation, after school programs and
intervention programs.
Mayor Frank Petzman commented "…some Mayors have
their heads in the sand. The general public is
waiting for communities to become involved."
Mayor Mary Burns,
Wall Township, contributes much of the problem to
the entertainment industry where gang violence is so
prevalent on TV.
There was common agreement
that the problem is of serious proportions. The New
Jersey Conference of Mayors will consider this a top
priority and will be offering assistance and
recommendations to
New Jersey's
mayors and the legislature.
The second main panel
session included Mayor Douglas Palmer, Trenton; Mary
Previte, formerly with the Camden County Youth
Organizations; Sam Frisby, Director of Trenton
Recreation Department; Dean Hertigan, Educational
Consultant and Roberta Knowlton, Director, School
Based Youth Services Program.
This session was devoted to
a discussion on positive youth programs, as well as
the prevention of gang violence. The general
consensus was that "you cannot arrest your way out
of drug and gang violence."
Mary Previte believes the
absence of fathers is a major problem which
contributes to gang violence. The Director of
Recreation in
Trenton,
related a community summit of 90 organizations whose
purpose was to determine how each of the groups was
dealing with the problem. As a result of the
meeting, resources were redirected, strategy
programs were put into place, a Scoop Program, which
is an enrichment program, became available to kids
at 10 sites in this city.
Dean Hartigan spoke of
discretionary funds that are available for
partnerships with schools and communities and gave
examples of successful programs.
Mayors agreed that NJCM had selected a timely and
critical subject for discussion and can expect to be
learning more about ways to cope with this
escalating social problem in the future, and the
pursuit of an aggressive legislative affairs program
to promote the passage of numerous pieces of
legislation regarding gangs and youth programs.
