Summer chaos in South Jersey: Higher penalties for those who incite brawls introduced in legislature
The Brief
The N.J. State Legislature is considering three bills in response to large-scale, public fights that broke out at community events and the Jersey shore boardwalk.
State Senator Paul Moriarty is the lead sponsor of the bills and said it would equip police officers with the tools they need to prevent incidents such as these from happening again and provide stiffer consequences.
Two of the bills will be up for a full vote in the State Senate at the end of March.
GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, N.J. - A set of bills in New Jersey are being considered to keep people safer in public.
It's aimed at enhancing penalties for people who incite a brawl, holding parents accountable for the behavior of their children and equipping law enforcement with crowd control training.
It's in response to a summer that saw several incidents of teens starting large-scale fights in public.
What we know
Democratic State Senator Paul Moriarity (N.J.-4th District) is the lead sponsor of the bills and says they're calling for tougher penalties for youth involved in large public brawls, a training program for local police departments to manage crowds, flash mobs and pop-up parties and accountability from parents for their children's behavior, which could mean jail time and fines.
"It's so alarming when you see something like this that it closes these wonderful events down and deprives the community of an event that brings them together," said Sen. Moriarty. "These organized through social media meetups where people are taking over public events, causing melees, brawls and disturbances that are alarming. We need to have some kind of tools that we can use to detour this and let people know we mean business."
The backstory
Chief David Harkins of the Gloucester Township Police Department is a vocal supporter of the new bills and even testified before state lawmakers about the problem and how it impacted their annual community event last year in June.
Gloucester Township Day, which is a decades-long tradition that raises money for college scholarships, was ambushed in the evening by hundreds of older teens and young adults who learned about the event via social media. Chief Harkins said the event ended with a few officer injuries and over a dozen arrests after reviewing officer-worn body camera footage.
"It was horrific. They were the most disrespectful behavior. Fighting amongst themselves. Trying to surround officers," said Chief Harkins. "It was a night like no other that I've experienced in almost my 30 years as a police officer."
Why you should care
This year, Gloucester Township Day will end early before it gets dark at 6 p.m. as a precaution after last year's chaos.
"We can't have community events. These are great events that are at the heart of our American lifestyle here to have community events, only to be ruined by this kind of lawlessness," said Chief Harkins.
State Senator Moriarty said two of the bills implementing tougher penalties and police training are pending a full vote in the NJ Senate on March 24.
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