Over 500 arrested in gang crackdown

A joint state and county crack-down on gang activity has resulted in more than 500 arrests since last spring, Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi announced Friday.According to Bernardi, the Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Task Force and the Burlington County Gang Task Force have conducted approximately 100 operations since March. Of the resulting arrests, more then 50 have been street gang members and their associates.

Attorney General Anne Milgram and Burlington County law enforcement officials joined Bernardi at the press conference, which was held at the county courthouse in Mt. Holly to release details and results of an ongoing anti-crime initiative targeting street gang members and violent offenders.

Governor Jon Corzine's "Strategy for Safe Streets and Neighborhoods" was announced late last year. The statewide strategy involves developing intelligence on violent offenders, investigation of those offenders and the prosecution of them once in custody.

"We believe our efforts have produced a substantial disruption in their criminal activity and a reduction in violence associated with these groups," Bernardi said. "Honest citizens should not have to live in fear of lawless thugs who act like its high noon at the OK Corral. The safety of Burlington County residents is now, and always will be, our paramount concern and we will continue to use all law enforcement resources to deter these violent criminals."
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According to Pemberton Police Chief Robert Lewandowski, who attended the press conference, Pemberton Township Police Department had been aiding the county in its efforts despite not having a significant amount of gang related incidents in the Township.

"The problem with gangs is not primarily a Pemberton problem," Lewandowski said. "Our participation with this initiative is to work together with other officers from around the county to come up with ways to deal with the problem of gangs in general."

According a state survey, 43 percent of all municipalities has a gang presence primarily in urban areas.

"The program came out of a belief that violent gangs are stealing young lives and destroying our towns and communities," Milgram said. "The goal is a simple one, the goal is to basically let people feel safe in their communities so that they can walk around the corner to get a carton of milk, so their kids can go to a playground or to school and the parents and the people of the communities will not be afraid to be outdoors and to live their lives."

"We're starting to see gang related activity in places we weren't normally seeing it in. It's definitely out there in various places around the state and people are wrong to think of it as a problem that only in certain parts of the state such as the cities. We're hearing about in schools, in rural and suburban areas as well as cities."

Despite a reported seven percent reduction in crime across the state last year, Milgram said she was disappointed to note a significant rise in juvenile crime from the years 2001 to 2005 a figure she attributes directly to an increase in gang membership.

"We don't want to lose an entire generation of young people," Milgram said. "At the same time we're losing a generation, we're also losing our streets because people don't feel safe to walk out onto their streets because we've got gangsters out there with guns."

According to Milgram "Strategy for Safe Streets and Neighborhoods" stemmed from a meeting the attorney general and the governor had in August of 2006.

She said the plan, which had been put into effect in October of 2007, was broken down into three parts: prevention, law enforcement and reentry.

"This is an intelligence led policing model and what's critically important to note that what we're trying to do is stop waiting for shots to be fired," Milgram said. "To deploy law enforcement into the communities to stop a problem before it occurs. We know it's working."