Yesterday we brought you the story about gang activity increasing in all parts of the Garden state - so if you think gangs are in your town - what should you do?

loading...

State Attorney General Jeff Chiesa says the first step in combating this problem is for Jersey residents to not be frightened, and not be in denial.

He says if somebody in a suburban town - "what they would consider to be a less traditional gang setting -sees that kind of activity, they shouldn't think because of where they live it's not gang activity - and if they think something's up they should just let police know - it's better to err on the side of caution…call the local police and they will get right on it - and we're always in contact with them - one of the great things we try to do in New Jersey is we try to share intelligence information."

He says "we can have a centralized base of information - so we can identify concentrated spots of violent activity, and overlay that with specific gang activities so that we can all be operating in a way that's efficient - that's really the first defense that any community has against criminal activity - if the police aren't there to see it themselves- that community member has an obligation to tell police about it."

Chiesa adds communication is vitally important because "If there are multiple investigations of the same targets - sharing that information - it's important from a law enforcement perspective - we develop good partnerships - especially in our inner cities…if we're all looking at a similar target, we can share information and make the investigation more efficient."

 

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM