Lawmaker: More cops, Not More Laws, Needed To Fight Gangs

gang graffiti lkwdAll the “feel-good, anti-gang legislation in the world” can’t replace police on the streets in fighting gang crime, the state’s Senate president said Tuesday. Democrat Stephen M. Sweeney called on Senate Republicans who want to fast-track pending anti-gang legislation to attend a hearing Monday of the Senate’s Law and Public Safety Committee. There, he said, they can discuss how law enforcement can combat gangs when the ranks of the criminals are on the rise and the roster of cops is falling.

“You can pass all the crime bills you want,” said Sweeney, D-Gloucester, “but if police officers aren’t there, what can you do? Gangs will go where they feel they won’t get caught. They will venture out where they think they will be successful. ” Read more in APP.

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15 COMMENTS

  1. That’s why you have police traps James and 9, Pine and Washington, wrecking havoc on traffic that is so jeopardizes this morning due to the weather. Go Figure!!!!

  2. Everyone knows which neighborhoods need the extra scrutiny, yet the popo still don’t hang out on those streets, they’d rather give out tickets in safe neighborhoods, (and it’s allot more profitable), if we need more cops, hire more cops.
    We should get our own SWAT team for all I care. Bottom line, nothings being done.

  3. we dont need more cops we need tougher laws to keep these criminals behind bars and make them regret what hey did. make the laws so tough and disgraceful that these criminals dont want to come back inside. you always hear these criminals being sheltered from the environment, being served 3 meals a day, clothing and showers, this sounds like a resort to me.

  4. Someone who is morally corrupt enough to want to commit a violent crime is not going to be deterred by the thought of a longer jail sentence. First, they probably aren’t aware of how the law works, nor would they be watching current events to see that new tougher laws were enacted. Second, they are going to believe they won’t get caught- and if they do, doing time is a badge of honor to these thugs.

    I think the presence of more police in the area they’d like to commit a crime is more of a deterrent than say, changing the amount of jail time someone does for a violent crime. A criminal wouldn’t ask himself, “I wonder if stabbing this person is worth 5 or 10 years of my life?” but he might say to himself “There’s a cop down the street, I better not do this right here and now.”

  5. LPD has their own swat team. 3 of their members were shot a few years ago and 3 of their members are no longer on the force from that incident. Have they hired to replace those patrolmen? The “thin” blue line has a whole new meaning these days. While those officers are enforcing traffic laws which they can not and should not ignore there are less officers patrolling your safe neighborhood or not so safe neighborhood.

  6. THIS IS A 2 SIDED, DOUBLE EDGED SWORD. (its not only about more or less laws, and its not only an increase of police presence. Its a combination of everything.)

    What we need to do is (1st) RELAX CURRENT LAWS ON THE BOOKS, that limit police officers from doing their job. Officers hands are bound & tied by laws that make it almost impossible to approach and even speak to someone they suspect is either up to no good, or might be concealing weapons without concrete probably cause. Officers cant just come up to the average guy dressed in all black, standing around and acting suspicious without getting sued, and an internal affairs case opened up- possibly loosing his job. NJ’s Democratic laws limit officers abilities to conduct pat-downs, and street level interrogations upon actors either known to be prior criminals, or person’s in or around known troubled area’s.

    (2nd) We need NJ judges, prosecutors, and street level law enforcement officers to be on the same level. We cant have street level officers risking life & limb to bring in these social parasites to only then be allowed to walk out on probation by a weak liberal, bleeding heart judge. We need NJ judges to give out stiff penalties, that include serious jail time. -Not counseling, not probation, not community service – BUT JAIL TIME!

    (3rd) We need law makers, and politicians that dont feel bad for criminals. Im tired of hearing about politicians making laws that benifit crime/criminals. I want to hear about politicians making laws that impose hard labor on criminals. I want to hear about politicians that take benifits away from criminals.
    Many people think jails are this scary place to go to, where inmates are treated like ravenous caged animals. FALSE FALSE FALSE! Jails have medical staff, counselors, work-out/gym facilities, computers with internet, libraries, entertainment rooms with tv’s & gaming consoles, etc. This is the works of politicians who feel bad for criminals. This is the works of politicians who think criminals should be treated like humans, and given the same rights, but forget about the rights of the victims.

    -“THE JUSTICE SYSTEM” will never work, or be effective if everyone is not on board to “PUNISH CRIMINALS!”

  7. Was 317 shoot and KILLED in a safe neighborhood????? Was the swat team when 4 people were shot was that a safe neighborhood???? What is a safe neighborhood can someone please tell me? The people who post make me sick grow up hire thats the bottom line. The homes that keep getting rob maybe they are the safe neighborhoods?

  8. #8 my point exactly!!! We need more cops. There is no such thing as a safe neighborhood. People in this town need to wake up and start to demand that the committee hire more police..oh wait I forgot… then we might get pulled over for breaking a traffic offense..nevermind

  9. What we need are cops that fight crime instead of messing up traffic when pulling people over. Let them sleep during rush hour and patrol the streets at night.

  10. If you’re so worried about the traffic tickets then don’t tie up those officers with your so called minor offenses!

    Wait until (God forbid) a child is hit by a car and all those “useless” traffic laws won’t seem so unecessary to enforce. That goes for cars who stop to let people out as well, they can cause accidents.

  11. ToConcerned says:
    OK it sounds like you have a personal adgenda to grind, all those complaing about the police trying to keep the roads safe by ticketing MV violations ,don’t you realize that is part of their job , if you obey the rules of the road you won’t get pulled over ,simple enough

  12. Ok if each resident wanted to help the town they would agree to a small tax increase, re-elect our committee, and hire 25 more police officers. We can look at other ways to save the money. Cut garbage pickup to every other week.

Comments are closed.