Gangs put on notice: N.J. will 'push back'

ED JOHNSON
STAFF WRITER

State Attorney General Anne Milgram promised efforts to reduce gang violence in New Jersey, even as she conceded top law enforcers do not yet know the full extent of the problem.

Milgram made her comments Tuesday at a meeting with the editorial board of the Asbury Park Press.

"In many areas, the problem is an epidemic," Milgram said. "There are more guns and there are more gangs on the street. We have to push back and get a handle on it."

The problem is all the more chilling, she said, considering reports that two-thirds of the gang members in the state are under 17 years old.

The extent of the gang problem locally was underscored in a large-scale brawl at Lakewood High School on Monday, when scores of students battled police and each other before order was restored. On Tuesday, police said the violence definitely was gang-related.

New Jersey is experiencing an increase in gang activity consistent with the trend in all states in the Northeast.

But Milgram said the full extent of the problem is not clear, highlighting the need for better intelligence gathering and analysis.

"Right now, I can't tell you what crimes are gang-related," Milgram said, adding that some new reporting requirements are being put in place to remedy that.

Her plan is to require law enforcement agencies to indicate which of the so-called index crimes that are used on the uniform crime reports have a gang angle, she said. There also will be a greater emphasis on defining what constitutes gang-related activity.

Cooperation essential

How much cooperation she will get is another question. Elizabeth, the fifth-largest city in the state, did not cooperate with a recent State Police survey of gang crime, she said.

In other communities, there has been a reluctance by some officials to admit the problem.

"It's very disturbing," Milgram said. "Some of the reluctance is political, but the people who live in the towns know they have a gang problem."

The fragmented nature of law enforcement in New Jersey — with its multitude of municipal police departments and government — also has hampered intelligence gathering and dissemination, she said.

"The state is still behind in terms of infrastructure," Milgram said. "Some departments have an extensive intelligence infrastructure, and many smaller departments don't."

Budget constraints are part of the problem, requiring some creative solutions, she said.

In some hard-pressed cities, Urban Enterprise Zone funds can be used for policing, something Milgram said was not traditionally done.

Better coordination between State Police and the state Division of Criminal Justice is another tool the state plans to use against gangs.

Each agency had its own separate gang unit until recently, Milgram said. They have since been "married up" to avoid duplication of effort and investigative coordination, she said.

Milgram described that as part of the "quiet change" that has been happening in her office as she has undertaken a major restructuring since becoming attorney general in June.

Focus on corruption

Public corruption is another issue Milgram wants tackled.

Noting that the United States Attorney's Office has found New Jersey a fertile ground for corruption investigations, she said she has tripled the number of deputy attorneys general assigned to those cases — from six to 18.

"Corruption is a significant issue in the state," she said. "It is at a level I have not seen before."

Milgram said she would like the lame-duck Legislature to make the crime plan initiatives unveiled by Gov. Corzine in October a priority. Among those initiatives are tougher gun control laws, stronger witness protection initiatives and requirements that all shooting incidents be reported to the State Police within eight hours.

The initiatives also include technology tools for all police departments — state, county and local — to share information.

"The system as it exists now is not set up to share information, and we need to share information," especially between local departments in the areas of gangs and guns, Milgram said.