Crime in Asbury Park, Part 2 ENFORCEMENT

By JOE WOERNER

Enhanced enforcement is the best first step to addressing our crime issue in Asbury Park. With over 80 police officers in a City that is a little larger than one square mile, we should be better able to police our streets.

What has worked in other communities would also make me feel safer in my neighborhood; a clear strategy to deal with gang violence, police walking/biking the beat more often, and stricter code enforcement. As this is essentially police work, the Asbury Police Department must lead this effort. The development of a comprehensive plan should also involve the City Council, community activists, the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office, the State Police, and it must be made public.

As gang members commit our most violent crimes, a specific gang intervention component is key. This strategy must focus on putting the hardcore gang leaders in jail and lower level members into intervention programs outside of Asbury Park. A few model programs suggested by community members that have found success in other urban areas include the Highpoint Interventionstrategy, Counterinsurgency Cops that employ a block-by-block approach, Cities United, and Violence Interrupters.

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Crime in Asbury Park, Part One: Understanding the Problems of Our Youth

By Joe Woerner

Consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in New Jersey, the crime on our streets has been more than ever on the minds of residents. In an effort to continue the discussion already underway in our community I will be sharing a few ideas that have helped me better grasp the issue as well as suggesting some possible actions. In a series of three letters I will address the fundamental underpinnings of crime, enforcement, and how to better support our community members.

Aristotle said, “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” To understand our crime issue, we must first understand the devastating role poverty plays in our community. The socio-economic and emotional impacts of poverty directly correlate with insufficient family and community support. This absence of adequate support limits options and makes it near impossible for our young people to succeed.

The Center for Disease Control publishes risk and protective factors for youth violence. The risk factors, such as low parental income and diminished economic opportunity, read like a laundry list of Asbury Park’s problems. Poverty not only increases the risk factors but also decreases protective ones. Our youth live in broken homes, substandard housing, and without basic services like simple healthcare. As a result many turn to gangs for protection, financial opportunity, and a sense of belonging. This American Life did a two-part special on Harper High School (part I & part II) in Chicago that illustrates the lack of options for poor minority youth in urban areas like Asbury Park. For too many, gang involvement and violence are a given, not a choice.

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Report: Gunfire wounds 2 in Neptune for second consecutive night

Report: Gunfire wounds 2 in Neptune for second consecutive night (via NJ.com)

NEPTUNE – One night after two Asbury Park men were shot in the township, two more people were reportedly shot here on Monday night. Lt. Scott Cox of the Neptune Township Police Department told the Asbury Park Press that the latest shooting occurred…

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Christie and Guadagno to kick off summer season in Monmouth County on Friday

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, left, and Governor Chris Christie, on the Belmar boardwalk in 2011.

Governor Chris Christie and Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno will be celebrating the beginning of the summer season on the Jersey Shore with multiple visits in Monmouth County on Friday..

Christie has a busy morning.  He’s scheduled to co-host the Boomer and Carton Sports Radio Talk Show at 8am and be on hand for the ceremonial opening of the Belmar Boardwalk at 9:30.

In the afternoon, Christie cuts the ribbon on Asbury Park’s new boardwalk at 1:30 and then heads to Ocean County to walk the Seaside Heights boardwalk at 3:30.

Guadagno will address the 89th Annual New Jersey State FFA Convention at Monmouth University’s Pollack Theater at 9 am.  Anyone who knows what the FFA is, without using google or another search engine, gets a free subscription to Greg’s List.  Members of the FFA and the Lt. Gov’s staff are not eligible to win.

Guadagno will visit the Keansburg Amusement Park at noon.  She then heads to Burlington County for a Memorial Day Flag Placement Ceremony at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Cemetery in Williamstown.

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Man caught with loaded handgun after chase in Asbury Park, police say

Man caught with loaded handgun after chase in Asbury Park, police say (via NJ.com)

ASBURY PARK – A Long Branch man was charged with possession of a weapon after he led police on a foot chase and tried to get rid of a handgun, authorities said. At around 3 p.m. on Saturday, the city’s Street Crimes Unit was on a proactive patrol…

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Baby girl, 2 adults shot in Asbury Park, police say

Baby girl, 2 adults shot in Asbury Park, police say (via NJ.com)

ASBURY PARK – Authorities are investigating a shooting that injured three people, including a baby girl, in the city on Monday evening. Shortly after 7:20 p.m. Monday, authorities responded to reports of multiple gunshots on the 700 Block of Comstock…

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Al Sharpton talks education, justice at Asbury Park conference

Al Sharpton talks education, justice at Asbury Park conference (via NJ.com)

ASBURY PARK – At a conference convened to discuss education, gentrification, the economy and the criminal justice system, Asbury Park’s black leaders say the city’s path deliverance starts at the ballot box Rev. Al Sharpton was in the city to…

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Community Easter Dinner for those in Need

Marilyn Schlossbach and the Langosta Lounge Gang continues their
long-standing Easter Community Dinner tradition on Sunday, April 20th,
3:30 PM – 5:30 PM, Located at 1000 Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park
Langosta Lounge will be closed to serve those in need.

Jersey Shore Rescue Mission is also serving to those in need
on Sunday, April 20th, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Located at 701 Memorial Drive, Asbury Park
A short Easter sermonette will be given by Rev. Mitch Green at 6:00PM

The above information was brought to you by
Lynn Humphrey Administrator/Owner of
BizEturtle:Events in Monmouth, www.bizeturtle.com
The website fully dedicated to Monmouth County
BizEturtle does not have any information on the
above subject except what is stated.

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Man robbed, shot in Asbury Park

Man robbed, shot in Asbury Park (via NJ.com)

ASBURY PARK – A 29-year-old city man was shot during the course of a robbery on Sunday night, police said. At approximately 10:15 p.m. on Sunday, two men with handguns approached a man, who was not identified, on the 1500 block of Bond Street at around…

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Jacobson has his eye on Beck’s Senate seat

Dan Jacobson

Former Assemlyman Dan Jacobson, publisher of the triCityNews weekly newspaper and AsburyParkSun hyper-local news website, launched his campaign to return to the legislature last week with his tCN column urging Senate Jennifer Beck to run for governor.

Jacobson served one term in the General Assembly, 1990-1991.  He was swept out of office, along with the Democratic majority in the 1991 election over Governor Florio’s $2 billion tax increase, including sales taxes on toilet paper and food.  In 2011 Jacobson registered as a Republican in order to challenge then Senator Sean Kean for the 11th district Senate nomination in the GOP primary.  But the legislative redistricting commission foiled Jacobson’s plans by moving Kean’s hometown of Wall out of the 11th district into the 30th, and moving Red Bank, Beck’s hometown into the 11th.

Jacobson didn’t want to run against Beck.  They’re friends and agree on most issues. And Beck’s political stardom is one of Jacobson’s major journalistic accomplishments. Just ask him.  Jen Beck never even would have been elected to the Red Bank Borough Council if not for Dan Jacobson pumping her up in the triCityNews.

So Jacobson ran a pax-on-both houses Independent race for Assembly in 2011 to make a point.  2304 voters, 3%, got the point and have long since forgotten it.  Obviously his heart wasn’t in the Assembly race.  He really wants to be in the Senate, but he doesn’t want to run against Beck.

The obvious solution is for Beck to step up and run for governor.  Jacobson rightly argues that the NJ GOP doesn’t have a viable alternative for a post-Christie candidate.   The NJGOP is actually weaker now than it was before Christie was elected in 2009.

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