STREET GANGS 2010

Street Gang 2010

The 2010 Street Gang Survey marks the fourth gang survey conducted by the New Jersey State Police in the past nine years.

An ongoing group or association of three or more persons who
may have a common identifying sign, symbol or name, and who individually or
collectively engage in a pattern of criminal activity or delinquent conduct.
Pattern of criminal activity – a reasonable suspicion by law enforcement that a
member or associate of the gang committed on separate occasions – within the
preceding five years-- three or more criminal acts of the offense types enumerated
below. The three criminal acts must involve, in total, at least two members or
associates of the gang.hree or more persons

Criminal Acts –
Aggravated Assault or Assault Extortion
Aggravated Sexual Assault or Sexual Assault Kidnapping
Arson Robbery
Burglary Homicide
Carjacking Drug Trafficking

Findings from the 2010 survey demonstrate a number of consistencies with previous survey
results. Gangs do not appear to have spread significantly throughout the state since our last
survey, maintaining a presence in roughly the same number of municipalities as they did in 2007.

Although the perception among the media and the general public remains that gangs are primarily present in urban areas and are becoming increasingly organized and violent, the current data does
not necessarily support this claim.

In the 2010 survey, it was once again demonstrated that gangs
were present in both urban and suburban municipalities, were relatively small and that few gangs engaged in the dramatic and violent crime which most frequently brings them to the attention of
the public.

It may be tempting for some to look at some of the results in this survey and conclude that street gangs don’t pose a significant threat to the general public. While it is true that a surprising number of gangs had little or no criminal activity attributed to them we think such conclusions
would be ill-founded. Street gangs are, by both legal definition and through the implicit understanding of their members, networks that engage in criminal activity.

It is inherent in their organization and ultimately what separates them from other organizations that just happen to have members who engage in criminal behavior. Additionally, gangs have a destructive influence upon
their communities in ways that transcend criminal behavior by creating environments of fear and intimidation.

While most municipalities are confident in their ability to determine if gangs are present in their
jurisdiction, the survey has identified several information gaps about the specific characteristics of
‘their’ gangs. The data seems to indicate that many respondents do not have the in-depth
understanding of the organization or intent of street gangs in their municipality to make a
determination of how sophisticated their operations may be, cohesive their members are or how
serious of a threat they pose to their communities.

This survey aimed to collect information relating to gang presence, characteristics and activities in the state of New Jersey for three different audiences: policy makers wishing to craft anti-gang policy, law enforcement agencies looking to develop anti-gang strategies, and members of the
public who want a better understanding of their communities. In that regard, we believe the 2010 survey provides the most comprehensive picture of gangs in New Jersey available.

This report is structured around three themes that were the focus of the 2010 New Jersey State Police Street Gang Survey: gang presence, the gang environment and gang characteristics.

Gang presence not only identifies how gangs are distributed throughout the state but also where they are not, their density in terms of membership and the intensity of the problems they pose to law enforcement. We attempt to examine these issues over time by comparing the answers of this survey with previous versions, where applicable.
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