Anybody who now brings up the whole 200 Bloods argument is just being
ridiculous. Asbury has a gang problem. End of story. The number or
affiliation is not even important. The problem is important. Here's
another article from todays APP. Read carefully. Notice that Asbury
and Lakewood seem to be the biggest problem areas.
BY MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU
For State Police Lt. Col. Frank E. Rodgers, terrorism hits close to
home almost every day.
To Rodgers, gang members who wreak havoc on the peace of neighborhoods
across the state are domestic terrorists.
"If you look at them (gangs), they are stacking up corpses like cord
wood," said Rodgers, deputy superintendent of investigations for the
State Police. "They are a daily threat."
Rodgers has taken on the task of creating a program, Operation
CeaseFire, to help battle gang violence.
The program, which concentrates resources in 13 municipalities in New
Jersey, including Lakewood and Asbury Park, drastically reduced gang
activity in Newark and Irvington. He expects the same to happen in the
Shore area, Rodgers said Tuesday.
Additional anti-gang resources, including staffing and expediting the
processing of forensic evidence, are part of Operation CeaseFire, said
Rodgers.
The terror a gang can cause is fresh in the mind of Sonia Mack.
On April 24, her son, Terry Jackson, 25, of Toms River was murdered in
Lakewood, police said. He was a victim of gang violence in a town
where there is a turf war going on among the Bloods members,
authorities contend.
Three people have been arrested in connection with Jackson's death:
Isiah L. Thomas, 18, of Brick, and Charles J. Gamble, 19 and Raphael
G. Powell, 20, both of Lakewood, are charged with murder, conspiracy
to commit murder and unlawful possession of a firearm. They each
entered a not-guilty plea.
"Nobody should go through this," Mack said Tuesday. "No mother should
endure this. It is hard enough having a baby then for someone to just
come and take it away from you in a snap."
Gang-related crimes move to the top of the list for Operation
CeaseFire's resources, Rodgers said.
DNA evidence experts
The State Police "have the only game in town" when it comes to DNA
evidence, which is still being processed in the Jackson case, said
William Heisler, executive assistant Ocean County prosecutor. An
average turn-around of the evidence takes several months because of
the volume of work the state processes.
"Any time we can devote additional resources in the law enforcement
area, especially with gang-related incidents, whetherit is extra
officers on the street or expedited evidence processing, it is always
welcomed," Heisler said.
Rodgers said poverty is a substantial factor behind formation of gangs
and their activity.
"Traditional drug problem areas are ripe to be exploited by organized
crime, in this case gangs," he said.
A decade ago, drug deals were done in "open-air drug markets," Rodgers
said, "but they are being taken over through violent means by the gangs."
Rodgers helped in directing State Police to an "intelligence-led
policing effort" with the Statewide Intelligence Management System and
the Regional Operations Intelligence Center. The effort pools all
forensic evidence information and becomes a resource for law
enforcement from local police to the FBI.
Fighting crime today requires such adaptations, Rodgers said.
"It is a business strategy," Rodgers said.
Intelligence-led policing has already proven itself in Irvington and
Newark, Rodgers said, and he is confident the concentration of
resources in Lakewood and Asbury Park will be equally effective.
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