Gangs or no gangs, that is the question

Does Plainfield have gangs or not? That was one of the themes of Mayor Robinson-Briggs' campaign, but the theme seems to have withered away since her inauguration in January, 2006.

Yet, with constant reports of gunplay in the neighborhoods, six reported shootings so far this year, and several violent incidents in the schools, the question just doesn't go away.

Today's Asbury Park Press and Bergen Record both report on a conference of educators and social workers at Brookdale Community College yesterday, where State Police gang experts discussed the problem and their approaches to it.

I would take exception with the notion put forward by a retired Bergen detective that 'people just don't want to hear about it.'

Folks in Plainfield would like to have an accurate assessment of the problem of gangs and some information about what is being done, what works and what doesn't.

Trouble is, we're not getting it.

The papers are too thinly staffed to cover everything. The bloggers are like one-armed paperhangers with a surfeit of stories to explore. Block associations have a network among themselves but no way to share with the community at large.

The one place that leadership and communication could be expected to come from would be the Administration, with its soon-to-be-revived website and its public access cable TV station.

That would be the same Administration that has not thought it a generally bad thing that public notice of crime should wither away.

What is to be done?

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Coverage --

• Today's Asbury Park Press: "Detective: More gangs in Jersey"
• Today's Bergen Record: "40% of towns have problem with gangs"
  

-- Dan Damon

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