Trenton,
NJ – Attorney General Anne Milgram today
announced a 10 percent decline in the number
of murders reported in New Jersey in 2009
compared to 2008. The most significant decline
came in Camden, where reported murders dropped
40 percent in the city of Camden, from 55
to 33 as of December 21.
The year-to-date figures, compiled by the
21 county prosecutors’ offices as of
December 21, show 335 murders in 2009 compared
to 369 in 2008. The total number of murders
reported in 2008 was 376.
“We
have now successfully decreased the number
of murders In New Jersey three years in a
row. This is an important step towards greater
public safety, and it is the first time that
homicides have been reduced three consecutive
years in a decade,” Attorney General
Milgram said. “This could not have
happened without the commitment and hard work
of the county prosecutors and local police
chiefs.”
Various
anti-gang initiatives organized by county
prosecutors throughout the state and in five
of the state’s urban cities netted 4,597
arrests in 2009, including 1,039 gang members
who were mostly part of subsets of the Bloods.
Those arrested were also members of the Crips,
Latin Kings, Netas, Pagans, and MS-13. The
operations, which helped solve 22 homicides
and prevent another 13, represented the second
phase of an anti-crime initiative that began
in 2008 under Governor Corzine’s Strategy
for Safe Streets and Neighborhoods.
The
operations involve the close cooperation of
local, county, state and federal law enforcement
agencies, and use intelligence-led policing
strategies to target the most violent criminals
and gangs trafficking in illegal drugs and
gun sales. In Camden alone, more than 1,100
people were arrested. The Camden Police Department,
which is under the direct supervision of the
Attorney General’s Office, was re-organized
in 2008 to put more officers on the street
and to deploy more officers to maintain close
contact with community members.
There
are now regular regional law enforcement meetings,
or Gangstat meetings, under the direction
of Jose Cordero, the statewide director of
gangs, guns and violent crime control strategies,
to allow prosecutors and law enforcement officials
to share gang-related information. In addition,
the State Police launched New Jersey Crime
Track in the summer to provide a database
for law enforcement agencies through the state
to collect, store and share criminal intelligence
related to street gangs.
Homicides
had climbed to 427 in 2006, and then declined
to 381 in 2007 and 376 in 2006. The last time
homicides dropped over a period of several
years was from 1995- 1999, when the number
of murders decreased from 408 in 1999 to 287
in 1999. The number of murders in 2000 increased
by just one, to 288, but then climbed to 406
in 2003. The number of murders dropped again
in 2004 but went up in 2005 and 2006.
The
latest available year-to-date figures for
2009 showed declines in the number of murders
reported in Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Hudson,
Cumberland, Mercer, Morris, Salem, Somerset
and Union counties. There were no murders
in 2009 so far in Hunterdon, and Salem counties.
Murders increased in Atlantic, Cape May, Essex,
Gloucester, Middlesex, Monmouth and Warren
counties, and were unchanged in Ocean and
Sussex.
The
violent crime rate in New Jersey dropped 1
percent in 2008, the seventh consecutive year
of a drop in the overall violent crime index,
which includes murders, rapes, robberies and
aggravated assaults. Incidents of violent
crime dropped 8.5 percent from 2005 to 2008.
The total incidents of crime in 2008, including
non-violent crimes, were the second lowest
total in 15 years. The full Uniform Crime
Report for 2009 will not be compiled until
later in 2010.
Phase
Two of the Statewide Violence Reduction Initiative
in all 21 counties plus Vineland, East Orange,
Plainfield, Irvington and Camden, led to the
seizure of 648 guns, including 51 assault
weapons. Illegal drugs with a street value
of more than $10.9 million were confiscated
and more than $2.7 million in cash seized
by law enforcement.
The
inaugural operations in 2008 had led to the
arrest of 1,844 suspects, including 530 gang
members and 600 individuals with previous
arrests for violent crimes. One hundred sixty-two
weapons were seized, including 22 assault
weapons. Drugs with a street value of $4 million
were seized and $857,769 in cash confiscated.
The
totals for the last two years are 6,441 arrests,
including 1,569 gang members, 810 weapons
seized, and $14.9 million in drugs and $3.6
million in cash confiscated.
The
totals for the city of Camden alone were 1,414
arrests, including 83 gang members, 125 weapons
seized, and $455,222 in drugs and $293,599
in cash confiscated.
A
joint law enforcement initiative launched
in Irvington this past summer involving the
Irvington police department, the Essex County
Prosecutor’s Office, the Essex County
Sheriff’s Office, the New Jersey State
Police, the State Division of Criminal Justice,
and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) has resulted in the arrest of 335 individuals,
including 58 gang members and 313 people with
previous arrests for violent crimes. Thirty-two
guns, $1,580,000 in illegal drugs and $259,2000
in cash was confiscated. The number of homicides
in Irvington year-to-date dropped from 24
to 17.
Also
in 2009, Attorney General Milgram noted that
the state and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) strengthened
its partnership to track the movement of illegal
guns into New Jersey and prosecute illegal
gun traffickers. Twelve people were indicted
in July for the illegal possession, transfer
and purchase of firearms that were later recovered
by police in connection with crimes in New
Jersey. The arrests and indictments were the
result of investigations conducted by a task
force of State Police detectives and special
agents of the ATF. The task force also included
police officers from Trenton, Mercer County
Sheriff’s officers, and detectives from
the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
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