Hispanics - AG Peter Harvey's Plainfield Meeting - 2005

AG meets to discuss attacks on Latinos

Plainfield crimes spur talks with activists, police and community leaders

 

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

 

BY JULIA M. SCOTT

Star-Ledger Staff

Plainfield needs to make "systematic changes" to prevent crimes targeting Latinos, according to state Attorney General Peter Harvey, who met with community leaders for two hours last night behind closed doors.

"I don't just want to be in response mode," he said to reporters following the meeting.

Of the attacks that targeted Latinos in Plainfield and North Plainfield in spring 2004 and summer 2005, only one of the beatings has involved charges of bias intimidation.

To make sure those patterns don't emerge again, Harvey proposed giving immigrants identification cards so they can open a bank account and deposit their wages instead of carrying around cash.

"They have cash in their pockets and some people know it," he said, adding that many of the crimes happen after someone leaves a bar.

To make the community safer, Plainfield needs to hire more Spanish-speaking police officers, increase police patrols, educate the community about safety and hold more meetings between law enforcement and residents. Harvey also suggested posting signs in Spanish in bars alerting patrons to past attacks and linking car services with bar owners to encourage patrons to get a ride home.

Harvey scheduled last night's meeting shortly after activist Carmen Salavarrita renewed claims of bias attacks against Latinos last month. Harvey said that it is "fairly rare" for a community to come together and show concerns about bias crimes, even though he meets frequently with local law enforcement and residents.

Almost 30 people, including Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow, Plainfield Police Chief Edward Santiago and Safety Director Jiles Ship, attended the meeting at St. Mary's School on West Sixth Street.

Salavarrita believes some of the attacks on Latinos have been bias crimes, even though officials have said otherwise.

"A lot of people want to keep it quiet but that's not going to solve anything," she said. Salavarrita, who lives in Piscataway, said victims come to her for help because she has close ties to the community as a board member of Plainfield's El Centro Hispanoamericano and as a trustee of the Plainfield Health Center. She blames "a group of black people" for the attacks.

Another Latino activist, however, says the entire community is actually working together.

"The message we are sending is our community will not be divided," said Flor Gonzalez of the Latin American Coalition.

Gonzalez was not the only one to downplay Salavarrita's allegations.
"Crime statistics reflect that victimization is not solely a Hispanic issue," Santiago said. The police chief agreed the city needs to hire more Spanish-speaking officers in addition to the 14 currently on staff.

"We are getting more and more investigations that require interviews with Spanish speakers," he said after the meeting.

Santiago suggested starting a citizens' education program at the police academy to increase awareness of safety issues.

Councilman Ray Blanco similarly dismissed the claim that there is tension between the African- American and Latino community.

"They're not killing us on the streets," he said to a resident who had come to give Harvey a personal letter. "You know this and I know this."

 
Julia M. Scott covers Plainfield. She may be reached at jscott@star ledger.com or (908) 302-1505.


© 2005  The Star Ledger © 2005 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

Gangs | Bystanders caught in middle of Plainfield gang feud | NJ Newsroom

Bystanders caught in middle of Plainfield gang feud

Wednesday, 19 May 2010 14:25

BY ALICIA CRUZ
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A man and two women suffered injuries in the West End neighborhood of Plainfield in what police are calling a gang related feud between rival gangs that has been seething for months.

The 45-year-old male victim in the shooting that occurred around 8:40 p.m. Sunday, drove himself to the former Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center after sustaining a gunshot wound to his upper left arm. He told police he was driving his 2002 Volkswagen Jetta near the 400 block of Liberty Street near the Liberty Village housing complex when someone shot at his vehicle, shattering the rear window and hitting him in the arm. Investigators say the victim, who told them a group of "young boys" fired the shot, was otherwise uncooperative.

That shooting incident remains under investigation, but no suspects have been arrested at this time. Police said there might be a connection between the Liberty Street shooting and a second shooting that occurred during the wee hours of Monday morning less than a quarter-mile away at the Elmwood Gardens.

The first officer who responded to that shooting was already in the area and heard the gunfire. Upon arriving at West Second and New streets in the Elmwood Gardens housing complex around 2 a.m., the officer found a 21-year-old Dunellen female suffering from a gunshot wound to the upper left arm.

The second victim, a 30-year-old woman, was found several minutes later a half-block away suffering from a gunshot wound to the right buttock. Before being transported to the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Brunswick, both victims told investigators they did not see the shooter or shooters.

An immediate search of the area turned up no leads, but several witnesses told police the shots came from a Black 2003 Mercedes-Benz bearing Virginia plates that was seen in the area driving the wrong way down a one-way street. Police later found the suspect vehicle approximately 1.5 miles from the scene of the shootings near the corner of West Fifth Street and Stanley Place fully engulfed in flames.

Emergency crews extinguished the fire, which was believed to be the result of arson. A search of the vehicle by the Union County Sheriff's Identification Unit and Arson Task Force found several live rounds of ammunition near the car's passenger door. The vehicle was later towed to police headquarters.

Investigators say the shooters intended targets appear to have been two males who were at the scene but both remain unidentified at this time. Police say despite increased police presence, trepidation between the Libside and West Third Street gang sets appears to be escalating.

"They don't seem to care," said city Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig. "We've been trying to keep the peace down there, because there's certainly been some things brewing."

According to Hellwig, the feud has been simmering since the beginning of the new year. The violence between the two gangs appears to be escalating at the expense of innocent bystanders, which has forced police to develop an aggressive operational strategy to address the issue.

The three West End housing complexes, Elmwood Gardens, Liberty Village and the nearby West End Gardens, are all managed by the Housing Authority of Plainfield, and have become the nucleus of gang activity for years, but officials said residents, understandably reluctant to speak for fear of retaliation from gangs, hamper efforts.

Anyone with information on either of these shootings is asked to call Plainfield Police Detectives Edwin Maldonado or Nash Brown at 908-753-3415 or Detective Eugene Goldston at 908-753-3531. All calls will remain confidential.

Article #12310

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/state/bystanders-caught-in-middle-of-plainfield-gang-feud



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NOTE: Story was taken down during the day.  Below is text of email I sent to NJ Newsroom folks on 5/21/2010 -- Dan
---------------------

Good morning,

NJ Newsroom ran a story yesterday AM on recent gang activity in Plainfield.

I aggregate links to news stories of interest to Plainfield readers on my blog CLIPS, and posted a link to the story in my usual fashion.

As I scanned the item preparatory to putting up a link, it seemed very similar to my recollection of the Courier News item "Three injured in Plainfield shootings as gang feud escalates" of 5/17/2010, and I put a link to their story alongside the one to yours. (The story was actually broken on my local news blog, Plainfield Today, early Monday AM as part of a roundup of police news -- "3 shot over weekend, pedestrian struck, plus unremarked bias incident")

I was told by someone yesterday afternoon that your story had been taken down, and that Plainfield police director Martin Hellwig had confirmed that no one from NJ Newsroom had contacted him about the story, though there was a direct quote in your piece.

As a news junkie (and retired public information officer for the City of Plainfield), I have had the highest regard for NJ Newsroom since its inception and admire both the news stories and the wide variety of opinions expressed on issues of concern to New Jerseyans.

This experience, however, has left me feeling uneasy. In print media, there might be a correction or a small notice about what had gone awry. Scanning your site, I don't find somewhere that a reader could turn for clarifications or corrections or admissions that a mistake or ethical lapse had been made.

I hope you will consider a little 'corner' for such, so that your deservedly good reputation will remain of the highest order.

Sincerely,
Dan Damon

--
Dan Damon
dandamon@comcast.net
908.448.7688

PLAINFIELD TODAY
The needler in the haystack
http://ptoday.blogspot.com/

C L I P S
Where Plainfield turns for news
http://pclips.blogspot.com/

Our lives begin to end when we are silent about things that matter.
--- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fraud - Courier - Cop faces insurance fraud charges

Published in the Courier News, Friday, June 12, 2009 (A-1)

Cop faces insurance fraud charges
20-year division veteran suspended

By MARK SPIVEY
STAFF WRITER

PLAINFIELD -- A 20-year veteran with the city's police division has been suspended without pay after being charged with insurance fraud, Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig said Thursday.

Officer David Thomas was charged with second-degree insurance fraud in connection with a homeowner's claim involving a computer, according to Hellwig.

A Union County Prosecutor's Office spokesman confirmed the charge Thursday but said no additional information was immediately available.

Thomas is entitled to a hearing within 30 days, said Hellwig, who added that the division plans to terminate him in the case of a conviction.

Calling Thomas a "good officer," Hellwig said the veteran cop worked in a "very critical area" of the division, helping compile Uniform Crime Reports, gather intelligence and issue daily reports.

The suspension may further strain the division's administrative ranks, Hellwig added, because of the recent retirement of two lieutenants and a captain.

Mark Spivey: 908-243-6607; mspivey@mycentraljersey.com.

This story did not appear online.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or CLIPS endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Homicide - Courier - Monroe & West 3rd, number 3 for 2008

Published in the MyCentralJersey.com, Thursday, September 25, 2008

Man killed in Plainfield drive-by, police say

By MARK SPIVEY • STAFF WRITER • September 24, 2008

PLAINFIELD —A 31-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting in the city Wednesday night, Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig said.
Advertisement

Plainfield police responded to a report of shots fired near the intersection of Monroe Avenue and West Third Street around 9 p.m., where officers found the victim, a black male, Hellwig said.

The victim, whose town of residence was unclear, remained unidentified late Wednesday night pending notification of his family.

Officials from the Union County Prosecutor’s Office’s newly-formed Homicide Task Force, established just one week ago, were on the scene along with the Union County Sheriff’s Office officials. Investigators are following “numerous leads,” according to Hellwig.

The homicide was the city’s first in more than six months and its third of the year.

URL:

Online story here.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Recidivism - Ledger - OpEd by Mayor Cory Booker

Published in the Star-Ledger, Sunday, July 29, 2007

[OpEd - Recidivism]
When neither crime nor punishment pays

BY CORY BOOKER

In barbershops and boardrooms, in newspaper headlines and presidential debates, Americans are questioning the billions of dol lars a month being spent on a failing war, and the current "surge" in Iraq.

But we, policy-makers at every level of government, should also be questioning the "domestic surge" at home in the so-called war on drugs and urban crime. There are more guns, more technology, more cameras scanning streets, and more money spent on jails, prisons and juvenile facilities every day. The cost to American taxpayers also rises every day.

The way we have chosen to deal with crime is leading our nation away from its highest ideals and producing results that stand in stinging contradiction to who we claim to be.

In the land of the free, we lock up a greater percentage of our population than any nation. The U.S. prison population has increased 91 percent in the past 15 years. More than 7 million Americans are under some form of state or federal cor rectional supervision, and this does not include the legions of Americans in county and city facilities.

Is this the America of which we dream?

Our societal resources pour into prisons and police budgets -- the numbers are staggering. Billions of dollars are spent annually around our state, with budget growth at a pace far beyond that of our economy. Newark spends over a quarter of its budget on police, courts and jails.

Is this the America of which we dream?

Our legal system is plundering conceptions of equality. In our America, one in three African- American men in their 20s is under some form of correctional supervi sion. New Jersey leads in racial disparities in incarceration; while 14 percent of New Jersey's population is black, more than 60 percent of its prison population is African-American.

Is this the America of which we dream?

Our correctional system does not correct. We are the worst nation on the globe for recidivism. After spending billions incarcerat ing people, we release them only to see one in every two ex-offenders return in three years. We are forcing our proud law enforcement community to engage in a profound cyclical absurdity of arrest ing, re-arresting and re-re-arresting the same individuals time and time again.

Is this the America of which we dream?

Our nation is not expending all of these national resources on violent offenders. The majority of the Americans clogging our courts and prisons are nonviolent offenders primarily engaged in the use, sale or distribution of drugs. Violent or not, offenders should face punishment -- whether they throw litter on a Newark street or come to a Newark street to buy heroin. But when the punishment perpetuates the problem, when it destroys lives instead of correcting them, when it saps taxpayers of their precious resources, when it perpetuates the hideous legacy of racial injustice, when it aggravates cycles of poverty and undermines the very principles we seek to uphold, we must seek change.

Is this the America of which we dream ./. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all?

We arrest teenagers for drug dealing and drug use at an alarming rate. But we make little, if any, investment in alternatives to exist ing detention programs, or in drug treatment, counseling, or intensive mentoring and education. Instead, we lock up these young people and release them back into our communities and the cycle begins anew, with re-arrest often within a matter of days or weeks.

New Jersey's largest juvenile facility is in Essex County and based in Newark. The former warden told me that three of four incarcerated youth have been at the Essex County facility before. Yet upon re lease, we put them right back into the environment that created the juvenile drug user or dealer. As a nation, we then wash our hands of any obligation and shake our heads when that 14-year-old youth offender becomes a 20-year-old offender and is once again clogging our jails.

When an adult is released and sincerely wants to stay out of prison, he faces a host of barriers to success that we do little to address. Ex-offenders are ineligible for numerous public assistance programs. They are stripped of their driving privileges, which might allow them to get to work; even if their driving privileges have not been revoked, they cannot obtain a commercial driver's license. They are entangled in a host of legal challenges, from parking tickets that turned into warrants for their arrest while they were in jail to child-support payments that have accrued to tens of thousands of dollars.

These Americans have a host of urgent needs, from housing to hunger and, of course, to children and families that desperately need their help. And as they try to meet these needs, they face a nearly insurmountable hurdle -- a community stigma that prevents many employers from hiring them.

I meet dozens of men every week with dramatic and painful stories of what they have been doing to survive, stay out of trouble and try to maintain financial stability. I see their sense of personal vic tory that they have resisted the easy, yet dangerous, call back to criminal activity that can afford quick but costly answers to their financial needs. However, I also see their frustration that, despite years of walking the right path, they still face a persistent punishment that costs them the right to return to society as a full and productive member and is depriving America of an enormous swath of its poten tial human talent. New Jersey's narrow expungement laws have men caught selling drugs in their 20s still paying the price in their 30s, 40s and 50s.

Enough. As mayor of our state's largest city I have decided to join with others to do whatever is necessary for a dramatic change in crime and prisoner re-entry policy at every level of government. In the coming weeks, we will announce a series of changes we will make here in Newark to reverse this travesty; however, as important as they are, they will not be enough to adequately alter the devastating course on which we find ourselves.

We live in a profoundly intercon nected world, with interwoven des tinies. This is not an urban problem or a suburban problem. It is not a black problem or a white problem. If we continue on the path we have chosen in the years and decades ahead, all of New Jersey will feel greater and greater pain and be forced to pay the ever- increasing price. American greatness has always required sacrifice, but we have been sacrificing and bleeding in the most senseless fashion, diminishing our nation's glory and strength. Now more than ever we must be united for broad- based reform. Now more than ever we must be the America of which we dream.

Cory Booker is mayor of Newark.

Online story link here. Archived here.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Business - Herald News - Court balks at restaurant closing ordinance

Published in the [Paterson] Herald News, Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Court balks at restaurant rule

By HEATHER HADDON and JOHN PETRICK
HERALD NEWS

PATERSON -- Grace Kuz sympathizes with the late-night eatery owners who helped successfully overturn a city ordinance requiring they close after midnight. But the Superior Court's decision on Monday does not make her feel safe.

"I really think it's a big slap in the face of the city of Paterson," said Kuz, 50. "The judge himself should read in the paper and see all we are going through."

Three fatal shootings took place near late-night chicken joints in Paterson this year, including two deaths this past weekend and the murder of off-duty police officer Tyron D. Franklin in January. After Franklin's death, the City Council adopted an ordinance requiring that restaurants with fewer than 10 tables close at 12:01 a.m. and not open again until 5 a.m. Six Paterson storeowners sued the city, arguing that it took away prime business hours.

Superior Court Assignment Judge Robert Passero acknowledged the restaurants' link to the recent killings, which both took place on Rosa Parks Boulevard between Godwin and Hamilton avenues where a New York Fried Chicken is located. But the ordinance as written was vague, unenforceable and "irrational," Passero stated.

"Judicial decisions must be premised on sound legal principles, not an emotional response to a tragedy," he said in his ruling.

Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres said he will work with the council to draft a clearer statute. The new law will establish size guidelines based on a restaurant's square footage, not tables.

Figuring out which establishments were primarily takeout joints presented much of the confusion in the overturned ordinance, police said during the three-day trial last week.

"It's a learning curve for us," said Torres, who hopes the city will pass new legislation in about a month.

In the meantime, Torres promised to beef up police presence around hangout hotspots. Michele Tobias, a cousin of James Felton, 30, who was slain on Saturday morning, said that the 4th Ward needs a 24-hour foot patrol.

"I pray that no more of our children will be shot," Tobias said.

The midnight shuttering yielded about a dozen tickets -- quite a few, considering Paterson is home to fewer than 10 late-night small eateries, according to Council President Ken Morris Jr. The city stopped enforcing the rule in March after the storeowners filed suit.

One of the storeowners received a fine of up to $1,000 and a possible 90 days in jail for disobeying the ordinance, according to Richard Blender, a Paterson lawyer who represented the storeowners.

"Many of them would have to close," said Blender on Monday afternoon. "The fact that the city wanted to deprive its citizens and dictate when they could eat was wrong."

Paterson's ordinance copied one in Passaic. Since it began in 2003, Abdul Ghani, owner of Monroe Fried Chicken, said his business fell by 40 percent. He had to cut the staff by half.

"We lost a lot of money from it," said Ghani, 35. "Everybody complained. They knocked on the door saying that they were hungry."

Passaic amended its law after it was adopted, and Torres said that Paterson will examine those additions. But striking the law entirely is not an option, according to Morris. "The ordinance is not going away," he said.

Kuz said she hopes not. Her family lost a lot of sleep over the rowdiness coming from those who congregated outside New York Fried Chicken, which is next to where she lived. Loiterers broke her new $250 air conditioner by tossing objects at her windows, she said. In 2004, she ended up abandoning her home of five years and moving elsewhere.

"We're not asking for the stores to be closed," Kuz said. "We're just asking for shorter hours."

Kuz and Tobias plan to address the issue during a council meeting tonight. Additionally, 4th Ward residents will host a community forum on crime on Thursday.

Reach Heather Haddon at 973-569-7121 or haddon@northjersey.com

Link to online story.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Business - Herald News - Residents want chicken takeout store closed

Published in the [Paterson] Herald News, Monday, May 21, 2007

Residents demand that takeout chicken store close

By DENISA R. SUPERVILLE
HERALD NEWS

PATERSON -- Relatives of two of the victims shot in recent days in or near a takeout chicken restaurant on Rosa Parks Boulevard called on the city Sunday to close the store.

Carrying a white poster board on which she had scrawled "shut this chicken store down," Michele Tobias said the restaurant was a "hangout" that attracted the wrong crowd and made the neighborhood unsafe. Tobias' cousin James Felton, 30, was shot and killed inside New York Fried Chicken at 241 Rosa Parks Blvd. early Saturday morning.

"We want them closed. We don't want early shutdown," said Tobias referring to an early-closing ordinance targeting small takeout restaurants.

The protest came a day before Superior Court Assignment Judge Robert Passero is expected to rule on the legality of that ordinance, which requires restaurants with fewer than 10 tables to close at 12:01 a.m. The ordinance was prompted by the death of Officer Tyron D. Franklin in January. Franklin was shot and killed by an alleged robber as he waited for his food at a Broadway take-out restaurant."If the chicken stores weren't open, we wouldn't have all those killings going on," said Sherian Seegers, whose nephew Sherby Tyson, 24, was shot and killed near Rosa Parks Boulevard and Hamilton Avenue on May 18. "They wouldn't have anywhere to be running in and out of.

"Too many kids are dying in Paterson today," Seegers said. "Somebody has to stand up and take a stand. It's just too much."

Tobias and some of the 10 or so residents who showed up to urge patrons not to buy chicken from the restaurant, said on any given night one could find dozens of people loitering in front of the restaurant.

"It's noise, it's cussing, it's drinking, it's fighting, it's terrible," Tobias said, describing the scene. "Don't let the weather get to 80 or 90 degrees -- you'd think it's a pack of ants."

The owner of New York Fried Chicken could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Nancy Grier, who said she was a community activist, said the restaurant should have shut down the day after the shooting. "Out of respect for the family, I think they should close down today," Grier said.

Not everyone who attended the protest wanted the restaurant to close permanently. Midnight would be an appropriate time to shut the door, said Grace Kuz, a neighborhood resident.

"It's not that they killed him," Kuz said in reference to the owners of New York Fried Chicken. "But if they had no way to hang out, then it would be safer."

Lt. Don Giaquinto of the Paterson Police Department, said Sunday that no arrests have been made in the two cases, and the police do not have any suspects.

Reach Denisa R. Superville at 973-569-7135 or superville@northjersey.com

Link to online story.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Operation Ceasefire - Ledger and Courier - Four articles, Aug 2006 - Feb 2007

Four stories, published in the Courier News and Star-Ledger, August 3, 2006 through February 15, 2007 [Emphasis added.]

---

1 - Star-Ledger, Thursday, August 3, 2006

Trenton expands anti-gang program
'Operation CeaseFire' to start in more cities

BY TOM HESTER
Star-Ledger Staff

The crackdown on gang violence grew some more teeth yesterday.

In touting the expansion of "Operation CeaseFire" into 10 more cities, Gov. Jon Corzine and Attorney General Zulima Farber said state and local authorities will increase the presence of state troopers in urban areas, enlist the help of citizens and seek tougher penalties on gang members who try to recruit members or threaten witnesses.

Corzine also told nearly 200 law enforcement officials and officers gathered for a summit on gang violence in Hamilton that the state will provide $750,000 toward "Operation CeaseFire."

"Combating gangs is one of my top priorities and one of the key initiatives in this year's budget," Corzine said. "It is important to continue to expand projects that have a positive track record, and CeaseFire has certainly done well."

Farber said Operation CeaseFire will be expanded in Newark-Irvington, Camden and Trenton. In addition, the program will be added to Jersey City and Paterson by the end of the year, and to New Brunswick, Elizabeth, Plainfield, Asbury Park, Lakewood, Atlantic City and Millville-Vineland by next year.

"What this means for Trenton is we have another tool in our tool box to fight gun violence and illegal gang violence," said Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer, who attended the summit. "We are going to certainly utilize the resources provided for us by the State Police and the resources of the community and the faith-based community so we do not have more people as victims, especially our children."

In Newark and Irvington, Operation CeaseFire has been under way in a 2-mile area along the cities' border since May 2005. State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes said gang shootings are down 40 percent on the Newark side and 30 percent on the Irvington side.

Despite those numbers, there have been 64 murders in Newark this year, a pace that could surpass the 97 murders last year, which was the greatest number of killings in a decade.

Fuentes said State Police intelligence officers have been in all of the cities for six months or longer gathering intelligence on gang operations and helping local police and prosecutors investigate shootings.

Citizen volunteers will be trained at the Police Institute at Rutgers-Newark to reach out to victims, witnesses and, if possible, gang members, to seek their cooperation in prosecutions.

"The goal of Operation CeaseFire is to use intelligence-driven policing to focus upon the most dangerous offenders in the most dangerous areas of the state," Farber said.

Officials said the combined police and citizen efforts are similar to those that helped lead to the arrest statewide on July 25 of 60 members of the 9 Tre gang, a faction of the Bloods, on racketeering and weapons charges. Fuentes said moves by police and prosecutors to question the potentially illegal background of bail money have kept all of the alleged gangsters behind bars.

In Newark-Irvington, three State Police detectives and one detective from each city are investigating each shooting. The State Police also are doing forensics work on evidence. Fuentes said that while Operation CeaseFire will be tailored to the needs of each of the other cities, the police and citizen work will be similar. He said troopers and police in each city also will exchange intelligence.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan, who attended the summit, said that while Operation CeaseFire is a welcome program, New Brunswick police have been attempting to crack down on shootings of all types.

"We are not waiting," he said. "New Brunswick and Middlesex County are being as proactive as we can be to deal with gang violence, and we will continue to do so while awaiting the rollout by the state."

Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith was glad to hear the Newark-Irvington effort praised. "We still have a long way to go, but we are seeing a reduction (in shootings)," the mayor said. "The goal is to put the gangs out of business."

Corzine said he will seek legislation to toughen penalties for gangsters who injure or intimidate witnesses to gang-related crimes or who attempt to recruit young members.

A sweeping package of 17 bills aimed at quelling gun violence passed the state Assembly on May 23, and awaits action in the Senate.

Tom Hester covers state government. He may be reached at thester@starledger.com or (609) 292-0557.

---

2 - Courier News, Thursday, August 3, 2006

Hard-line anti-gang initiative to expand
Police program to be added to 12 urban areas, including Plainfield.


By ANGELA DELLI SANTI
The Associated Press

HAMILTON -- A policing program that takes a hard-line approach to gun and gang violence will be expanded from the North Jersey city where it was first tried last year to 12 urban areas across the state, including Plainfield.

The "Cease Fire" program combines law enforcement, prosecution and community outreach in areas most affected by gang violence.

A pilot program that began more than a year ago in a crime-plagued 2-square-mile area on the Newark- Irvington border saw shootings decline by about a third in the targeted zone, state police Col. Rick Fuentes said. That success prompted Gov. Jon S. Corzine to include $750,000 in the current state budget to expand the program.

Speaking Wednesday at an anti-gang summit that drew law enforcement professionals, politicians and community activists from across the state, Corzine denounced gang-spawned crime waves for creating havoc in affected cities.

A 2004 state police survey showed gangs moving from cities to suburbs. One hundred forty-three municipalities reported gang activity, more than three times the number reporting it in a more limited survey three years earlier.

There are an estimated 17,000 gang members in the state, and state police say 17 percent of the state's homicides have a gang tie.

Gang violence "undermines the ability to get to a higher quality of life," Corzine said, calling it a "moral responsibility" for New Jerseyans to protect their children from gangs, guns and drugs.

By the end of the year, Cease Fire programs will be running in Trenton, Camden, Jersey City and Paterson, Attorney General Zulima Farber said. Camden's program actually started in June, and early results show promise, Fuentes said.

Cities to get the program in 2007 are: Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Elizabeth, Lakewood, Millville-Vineland, New Brunswick and Plainfield.

The program -- Fuentes calls it a comprehensive violence-reduction strategy, while others refer to it as "intelligent policing" -- homes in on gun crimes, treating every shooting as if someone died. That triggers forensic and ballistics investigations that would not ordinarily be launched in nonfatal shootings.

Prosecutors also work to keep suspects behind bars by requesting that judges check the source of bail money to ensure it wasn't gotten through illegal activity.

"The basic mission is to stop the next shooting, to prevent crime," said George L. Kelling, faculty chairman of the Police Institute at Rutgers University in Newark.

A third component of the strategy is to seek the help of the community to make neighborhoods safer.

"Identify the natural community leaders and let them fly," Kelling said. "There has to be a real sense of moral indignation that what's happening in the streets is simply intolerable."

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3 - Star-Ledger, Sunday, December 03, 2006

Operation CeaseFire's next target: Plainfield shootings

BY ALEXI FRIEDMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

Last month, a dozen bullets tore through a car in Plainfield, leaving the three intended targets inside unscathed but residents on edge.

A police investigation later determined the shooting was gang related. Suspects have been identified but no arrests have been made. In Plainfield this year, homicides are down but shootings are up, and gang violence remains a concern.

But starting next month, a new statewide anti-violence initiative will be implemented, aimed at reducing the number of shootings by treating each one with the importance of a homicide. Officers from local and state agencies will be called in to investigate each incident, sharing information and intelligence along the way. There will be greater community outreach, authorities said, with residents and block watch association members urged to report any crime they may see.

Called Operation CeaseFire, the multi-agency program has already yielded results along a two-square-mile stretch on the Newark-Irvington border, where it has been in effect for more than a year. Shootings have decreased 30 percent from the previous year there, according to the state attorney general's office.

The initiative will be phased into 14 cities throughout the state -- including Elizabeth -- bringing together specially trained officers from city and state police with teams from the Department of Criminal Justice and county prosecutors.

In Plainfield, which has a population of 47,000, three squads will work around the clock, with two from the city police and one from the state police. Three to seven personnel will investigate each shooting in Plainfield, according to its police chief, Edward Santiago. The process of intelligence gathering and forensic analysis will also be accelerated, he added, clearing a path for arrests.

Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow requested that Plainfield be added to the CeaseFire list after consulting with Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs and Santiago. "I felt it was an appropriate candidate because of the number of shootings," he said.

Through October, there were 52 confirmed incidents of assault with a firearm, up from 43 last year. The charge is applied any time a gun is pointed at someone or fired, according to Plainfield police. Factor in confirmed and unconfirmed incidents of shots fired, and the numbers jump.

Through July, there were 91 reports of shots fired, according to the prosecutor's office. For all of 2005, there were 143 such incidents reported.

Homicides have dropped, however, to eight, from 14 a year ago. Of the eight murders this year, five involved gang members, either who fired the gun or were hit, Romankow said.

"Aside from investigating these matters, we are combing the areas for witnesses," he said. "We are pushing as much as we can informants. Whatever is necessary to get these people off the street."

The prospect of Operation CeaseFire coming to Plainfield has been met with general support from city officials and community leaders. That isn't a surprise since crime along with economic development and taxes was one of the key issues during the most recent Plainfield city council debates leading up to Election Day.

"We have to be open to creative policing and try new things and tactics," Santiago said. Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig said he believes Operation CeaseFire "will have a positive impact in lowering the crime rate."

While Plainfield is a suburban community, said Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield), "it has urban problems. We don't have all the resources to fight crime. These are the areas that they can really help a town like Plainfield."

Operation CeaseFire is an anti-violence initiative, authorities say, though cracking down on gangs remains the focus. There are 18 known gangs in Plainfield, according to the Union County Prosecutor's Office, although Santiago said just a handful "are active." Though some gangs may have just one or two members, there are about 250 verified gang members in the city and another 200 who could not be verified.

Those numbers are comparable to nearby Elizabeth, whose 120,000 residents account for more than twice Plainfield's population.

Terrell Alston, a longtime city resident, said he looks forward to Operation CeaseFire. Gang violence, he believes, has not subsided in Plainfield. "We have to get to the basis of why these things are occurring," said Alston, who heads up Concerned Citizens of Plainfield, a local advocacy group. "If we have a better response from our police department as well as the citizens of the city, I believe we can become a more vibrant and effective city."

Steven Hatcher, president of the Plainfield Chapter of People's Organization for Progress, agreed.

"I commend it, I hope they do it," he said. "I got a son. I don't want my son raised in a place where he's afraid to go outside."

Alexi Friedman may be reached at (908) 302-1505 or afriedman@starledger.com.

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4 - Courier News, Thursday, February 15, 2007

Plainfield to implement program to cut gun violence

By CHRISTA SEGALINI
Staff Writer

PLAINFIELD -- A comprehensive, anti-violence program that uses community outreach, strategic planning and state-of-the-art equipment to reduce instances of gun violence is scheduled to roll out in the city by mid-April.

State, county and local officials met Wednesday at City Hall to discuss the implementation of Operation CeaseFire, a state-funded program already in place in Newark and Irvington that officials said has been instrumental in reducing gun violence in the targeted areas of those cities by as much as 30 percent over the past year.

This new program is the latest in a series of efforts officials are mounting to increase safety in the city. Earlier this month, the city began Operation Take Care of Business, in which police officers are being deployed on foot, bike and Segway scooter patrols in a community policing strategy for the city's key downtown commercial areas.

The new gun program works by training law enforcement and community organizations on the strategies of how to reduce gun-related crimes, state police Capt. Christopher Andreychak said.

Specifically, Andreychak said that every participating city is given the tools to map its "hot-spots" of violent crimes, which then receive heightened attention by law enforcement.

The goal, Andreychak said, is for law enforcement to predict when to expect increased levels of violence in their "hot-spot" areas. Since part of Operation CeaseFire's goal is to reduce gang violence, evidence confiscated at the scenes of violent crimes -- such as bullet casings or discarded guns -- are sent to state police ballistics technicians, who see if the evidence has any connections to violent crime scenes in other cities.

"When you start cracking down on crime in one area, those criminals who aren't arrested wind up leaving that area, and it becomes difficult to investigate," Andreychak said.

In addition to training and increased connection with the state police, Andreychak said the city also will receive its own equipment, including a $5,000 "trunk-kit" with cameras and recording devices to conduct surveillance of its targeted areas.

Public Safety Director Martin Hellwig said the training of four of the department's officers, as well as civilian training to support the program's community outreach component, also is being funded by a portion of the $750,000 grant that Gov. Jon S. Corzine earmarked for Operation CeaseFire.

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Abdel and Smith - Ledger - Smith Fined and Probation

Published in the Star-Ledger, Saturday, May 26, 2007

Officer loses his badge for role in insurance bilk

BY RICK HEPP
Star-Ledger Staff

A Roselle Borough police officer was ordered yesterday to serve a year on probation and permanently relinquish his badge for filing a false report in a large-scale automobile insurance fraud scheme run out of a Union County auto body shop.

Officer John A. Smith, who earned $81,908 a year after spending 14 years as a Roselle patrolman, also must pay $5,000 in civil penalties for his role in a eight-member ring that bilked insurance companies by filing claims on staged or fictitious car accidents.

State prosecutors said the scam netted $94,200 between March 2001 and March 2003, but the companies claim the true loss is in the millions of dollars.

Smith, who pleaded guilty to official misconduct two months ago, admitted he filed a false accident report in 2002 for Marco Rebelo, the ring's admitted leader, state prosecutors said. Rebelo, who owns Creative Auto Body in Roselle, later used the police report to file a false claim with Clarendon National Insurance Company, which paid out $12,500.

Smith, 38, of Columbus, was also ordered by Superior Court Judge James Heimlich to spend 60 days in the Union County Jail's Sheriff Labor Assistance Program and complete 300 hours of community service.

The case was brought by the state Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor, which secured grand jury indictments last December against Smith and Plainfield Police Detective Samad Abdel on charges of conspiracy, official misconduct, theft by deception and attempted theft by deception.

Abdel, who lives in Roselle, was sentenced to a year of probation in May after admitting he submitted two false police reports as a favor to Smith. Had Smith and Abdel gone to trial, they could have faced charges up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Rebelo, meanwhile, was sentenced on June 1 to four years in state prison.

The case stems from an investigation initiated by State Farm Insurance, which notified the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor. The company also filed a civil lawsuit in 2004 that paints the ring as a vast conspiracy that included 38 members who were strategically located in police departments, insurance agencies and auto body shops, making it "virtually undetectable."

State Farm claims it alone has paid out $1.3 million for more than 140 bogus claims by members of the ring dating back to at least 1999, the lawsuit notes. At least four other companies have also been targeted by the ring for millions of dollars. The state said it only needed to charge the ring with a portion of those crimes to make the charges stick.

Rick Hepp may be reached at rhepp@starledger.com or (609) 989-0398.

Link to online story.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Abdel and Smith - Courier - Abdel Fined and Probation

Published in the Courier News, Saturday, May 26, 2007

Swindling city cop to pay $5K fine
Samad Abdel sentenced for insurance fraud scheme

Staff report

A Plainfield police detective was sentenced Friday for filing false police reports as part of an insurance fraud scheme involving an auto body shop in Roselle.

Samad Abdel, 42, of Roselle was sentenced to one year of probation by Superior Court Judge James C. Heimlich sitting in Elizabeth and was ordered to pay a $5,000 civil insurance fraud fine.

The judge also ordered Abdel to forfeit his employment as a detective with the Plainfield Police Department and to be permanently barred from any future law enforcement position or public employment.

The sentencing followed Abdel's guilty plea Dec. 12, 2006, to two counts of official misconduct.

At the plea hearing, Abdel admitted he wrote two false police reports on automobile accidents that he knew were staged or fictitious so that fraudulent insurance claims could be submitted.

Abdel's indictment charged that he and eight co-defendants reported a total of seven staged or fictitious car accidents from March 2001 to March 2003 and filed more than $117,800 in fraudulent automobile insurance property damage claims based on those phony accidents.

Authorities said the defendants provided false information for police accident reports to Abdel and John A. Smith, a police officer with the Borough of Roselle, which were used to substantiate the auto accident insurance claims.

Smith pleaded guilty earlier this year to official misconduct and is awaiting sentencing.

Claims were filed with Progressive Insurance Company, Great American Insurance Company, Clarendon National Insurance Company, State Farm Insurance Company and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company.

About $94,200 was paid by the insurance companies.

There is no link to an online story.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)

Crime - Ledger - Farmer: Rise in violent crime predictable

Published in the Star-Ledger, Sunday, January 14, 2007

OpEd
Rise in violent crime was predictable

BY JOHN FARMER JR.

More than 100 people were murdered in Newark last year. Many more were shot at, mugged or robbed. Nor was Newark's record-setting violent crime wave an isolated event. In large cities all over the country, violent crime rose last year for the second straight year, reversing a long-standing trend toward safer streets.

If 2006 was the year in which, abroad, the failure of our Iraq strategy became clear, it was also the year in which, at home, the failure of our law enforcement strategy be came painfully obvious.

More disturbing than the news that violent crime is increasing, however, was government's reaction to it. The Department of Justice expressed its concern about the sharp rise in homicides and robberies nationwide, and reassured the public that its ongoing study of crime trends in 18 cities will help determine "what is causing this increase" and "which crime-fighting efforts are most effective." Gov. Jon Corzine, in his State of the State address, decried the "scourge" of "guns and gang violence," and called for a "comprehensive approach for prevention, enforcement and prisoner re- entry."

News reports have ascribed the increase in urban violence to various causes: a spike in the number of men between the ages of 20 and 24; an increased use of firearms in urban settings to settle disputes; the growing prevalence of gangs; the diversion of law enforcement resources to the prevention of terrorist activity. In a fit of misplaced nostalgia, even New Jersey's success in curbing the practice of racial profiling is now cited by some as leading to the increase in urban violence by allowing guns into Newark. (How this accounts for the rise in violence in cities like Washington, Norfolk, Atlanta, Miami and others is an unanswerable mystery to these folks.)

What has gone unreported, however, is the extent to which the increase in violent crime was not only predictable but actually predicted, a direct if unintended consequence of our anti-crime policies of recent years.

When Justice Department bureaucrats are finished "studying" the problem -- as though the more than 100 murder victims in Newark last year were the subjects of some laboratory experiment -- I think they'll conclude that the problem may -- just may -- be related directly to two government policies of the past 15 years: the subjection of violent offenders to mandatory minimum terms of incarceration with no programs in place to as sure that they will be rehabilitated; and the practice of housing gang members together in our prisons to avoid prison violence.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, as a consequence in part of the crack epidemic and in part of the adverse publicity surrounding certain judges' decisions in criminal cases that were deemed to be too lenient, legislatures across the country, including Congress, began to pass so-called mandatory minimum statutes. These statutes removed discretion from judges by requiring defendants who were convicted under their provisions to serve a prescribed amount of time in prison.

By the mid- to late 1990s, as increasing numbers of violent offenders were convicted and sentenced in accordance with these tougher laws, a remarkable thing began to occur: The crime rate began to plummet. The suspicion long held by those of us in law enforcement -- that the vast majority of serious crime is committed by relatively few people -- seemed confirmed. Violent crime reached historic lows every year I served as attorney general; the streets of New Jersey had not been so free of violent crime since the riots of 1967.

There were, however, clouds on the horizon. First, the influx of violent offenders in prisons from rival gangs caused a potential security problem within the prisons. As gang members intermingled behind bars, there weren't many choruses of "Kumbaya" being sung. So corrections officials decided that, to maintain peace in our prisons, they would house gang members together, and separate the gang populations from each other. The fact that this practice could actually strengthen the social structure of gangs in the community was deemed less important than maintaining riot-free prisons.

The other cloud on the horizon was the fact that the vast majority of offenders sentenced to mandatory minimum terms of imprison ment would some day be returned to the community. Unless a violent offender was convicted of a crime requiring life in prison, at some point -- usually 10 to 15 years after incarceration -- he or she would be released. Given when most of the mandatory minimum sentencing laws were passed, that meant that beginning in 2005 or so, tens of thousands of violent offenders would be released, and would re- enter society.

Four years ago, with crime rates remaining at historic lows, former Public Advocate Stanley Van Ness and I co-chaired a series of roundtable discussions designed to build awareness among law enforcement policymakers of the impending problem. New Jersey, we warned, would be releasing more than 70,000 people from state prison alone over the next five years, with virtually nothing in place to assure that they would commit no further crimes upon their release. The re sult, given that the only social structure available to many urban inmates was the gang structure, could be a catastrophic increase in violent crime.

Our efforts were mirrored around the country in states like Michigan, Florida and Kansas; the problem of re-entry was truly a national problem.

We were encouraged, at first, by the government's reaction. We had active participation from both state and federal law enforcement, from the criminal defense bar and from social scientists. All professed to see the problem coming. A succession of governors and their staffs, like Corzine last week, have all "said the right things" about re-entry.

It is fair to ask, however, in light of the grim homicide statistics in Newark from 2005 and 2006: What has anyone in the government actually done over the past four years?

In a word, nothing.

The Legislature created a Sentencing Commission to study mandatory minimum statutes. A draft executive order making re-entry a priority has languished now through three years and as many governors. The virtues of various pilot programs have been debated; none has been implemented. Typical government glad-handing and lip service. Nothing.

With the hundred-plus homicides last year in Newark, and violent crime now rising all over the country, the long-dreaded day is upon us, and the Justice Department is going to study it. They'll get back to us, we're told, when they've figured out the cause.

Great. But do we really have to study this problem in order to address it? What do you think will happen if you take a violent offender, lock him up for 10 or 15 years, give him no social structure but a gang, and then turn him loose into society with nothing in place to discourage a return to violent behavior? Do you really need a "study" to figure out that the gang problem is in many respects a re- entry problem, or that -- quite apart from gangs -- anyone leaving prison after an extended term faces an enormous adjustment?

There are probably no less-sym pathetic claimants to the state's budget dollars than incarcerated felons. But the social cost of allowing violent offenders to drift through our prisons with no strategy to improve their conduct when they are released may well be incalculable.

Corzine's call for a comprehensive strategy to address the re- entry issue is encouraging. I hope his staff develops one, and I hope it involves actual contact with actual inmates. I hope he highlights it in his budget address and proposes funding it generously. Even more, I hope he goes beyond symbolism and process to the realization that he must act decisively and immediately. The government -- both state and federal -- must actually do something, and do it now.

In the meantime, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is right not to wait for the state and the feds. He's right to launch his own re-entry effort, with particular focus on juvenile offenders. He knows all too well that the problem is no longer about what will happen in four or five years when tens of thousands of inmates are released. They are coming out now. They are here.

Tragically, for people in cities across the country, and for more than 100 people in Newark last year, the time to act was yesterday.

John Farmer Jr., a former New Jersey attorney general and special counsel to the 9/11 commission, teaches national security law at Rutgers University Law School.

Link to online story.

(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
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