Peter Aseltine (609) 292-4791

TRENTON – Attorney General Peter C. Harvey has been named chairman of the Gang Violence Subcommittee of the National Association of Attorneys General. In accepting the leadership position, Harvey said he would strive to improve national efforts to understand and combat the spread of gangs and gang-related crime. Harvey said the committee will promote collaboration and information sharing to address the growing problem of gang violence.

"Gang violence has both stolen the futures of young people and turned our communities into firing ranges," said Attorney General Harvey. "In New Jersey, we are fighting gang violence at both levels – punishing those who commit gang-related crimes and using educational outreach to turn our young people away from the false glamour of gang life."

Harvey has made combating gang violence a priority in New Jersey. Last year, as First Assistant Attorney General and Director of the Division of Criminal Justice, he established the Gangs, Guns & Drugs initiative, which assigns teams of specially trained deputy attorneys general and state investigators to support federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies investigating and prosecuting gang-related crime in Newark, Irvington, the Oranges, Jersey City, Elizabeth, Paterson, Trenton, Camden and Atlantic City. In connection with that initiative, Harvey has enhanced and strengthened the State Police Street Gang Unit. That unit has spearheaded major investigations that led to the arrest and/or indictment during the past year of 47 alleged members of the Latin Kings, one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the state, and 65 alleged members of the Champagne Posse, a gang that allegedly controls most of the marijuana trade in the Essex County area.

Attorney General Harvey also has increased New Jersey's efforts to provide gang resistance training for students and school administrators. New Jersey became the first state to partner with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) to provide in-state training of local police officers to teach the Gang Resistance Education and Training Program (GREAT). More than 100 police officers from across New Jersey were trained during the past year to go into schools to teach the program, which was developed by ATF to provide students with the skills they need to avoid gang pressure and youth violence.

In an invitation for participation to all state attorneys general, Harvey outlined some key issues and efforts to be addressed:

Attorney General Harvey delivered remarks today at the East Coast Gang Investigators Association Annual Conference, which New Jersey co-sponsored and hosted in Little Egg Harbor. Harvey stressed the importance of cooperation among law enforcement agencies and communities to prevent the spread of gangs and to investigate and prosecute gang-related crime. He vowed to further increase outreach to parents, parent-teacher organizations and community groups to enable them to recognize and address the signs of gang involvement among youth.

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