State police will meet with urban police departments to discuss growing concerns that officers in some New Jersey urban areas could be targeted by street gangs.
Officials from around the state were scheduled to attend, including those from cities were authorities say the threat seems to be focused: Camden, East Orange, Irvington, Jersey City, Newark, Passaic, Paterson and Trenton.
The move follows a recent warning that The Star-Ledger of Newark reported was sent to officers by state prison officials. In those internal documents, corrections investigators said the Bloods street gang has called for an ``uprising'' in the state's largest cities and in jails, the newspaper reported.
``We are investigating it, and we are discussing with other agencies plans on how to combat increasing violence attributed to gang members,'' acting Lt. Keith Bevacqui, assistant chief of the State Police Street Gang Bureau told The Star-Ledger.
Officials said they believe three of the four shootings of Newark police officers in July were carried out by Bloods members, but they do not have proof of any specific attacks planned or carried out. Those officers are recovering from their wounds.
The Star-Ledger, citing unnamed sources, said the threat information came from several prison informants as well as from a prison letter intercepted by investigators.
Authorities concerned about threat of gangs attacking officers
A West Coast street gang known for its violent and predatory behavior appears to be active in Camden, law enforcement officials say.
Police investigations into gang and drug activity in New Jersey have confirmed the presence of The Bloods in Camden.
"DipSet (the law enforcement name for Camden's Bloods branch) is already established for certain," said state police acting Lt. Keith Bevacqui, assistant bureau chief for the state police's Street Crime Bureau.
Investigators intercepted a coded letter containing orders that Bloods members in East Coast prisons kill one or two prison officers within the next few weeks, according to a memo from the Middle Atlantic-Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network. Officials should also be prepared for prison uprisings throughout the East Coast, the memo said.
Camden's prison was among the facilities specifically mentioned in the July 21 memo.
The gang's presence in Camden is part of a statewide turf struggle that could threaten police officers, their families and even prison facilities nationwide, authorities say.
The Bloods are not believed to be involved in any of the recent homicides in the city, and there have been no specific threats made to Camden, county prosecutor's office spokesman Bill Shralow said. But local law enforcement is taking the gang's presence seriously enough to begin training sessions for city officers, Shralow said.
City police officers are being trained to recognize Bloods tattoos and symbols, Shralow said. While the department plans no change in its policing procedures, authorities want to be sure officers know how to identify a potential new threat in the city.
"Law enforcement officers have to go about their duties with heightened awareness and alertness," Shralow said. "Certainly we can't alter law enforcement strategies with threats like this except to be extra vigilant."
Interim Camden Police Chief Edwin Figueroa said he wasn't convinced the Bloods had a true presence in the city, but was taking precautions nevertheless, he said.
All city police officers and state troopers are required to wear bulletproof vests while on patrols, authorities said.
Also in response to the threat, state police are staffing a new intelligence bureau in Camden with troopers experienced in gang crime investigations. The head of that unit, which will include members of the city police and the prosecutor's office, also has a background in gang investigations, said Col. Rick Fuentes, state police superintendent.
"We are concerned over a more aggressive posture by the Bloods to recruit and to shoot police officers," Fuentes said.
Authorities said the problem could extend beyond Camden into the rest of Camden County: A Bloods member operating in Camden could live in Pennsauken.
Though the state Department of Corrections declined to comment on the memo, the state Attorney General's Office said Thursday they were aware of the threat and are taking it seriously, spokesman Paul Loriquet said.
The attorney general had discussed the threat with state prison officials, he said. The FBI said federal authorities were also aware of the threat to the country's prisons, a spokesman for the agency's Philadelphia bureau said.
Robert Walker, who has served as an expert witness on gangs in several states and runs the Web site www.gangsorus.com/index.html, said the threat mentioned in the memo is not unique.
"It's happened before in different parts of the country," said Walker, who began his career in the Maryland Department of Corrections in 1956. "Whether it's an initiation requirement or a reward out on their heads."
Walker likened the memo's urgency to the terror threat alerts issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The memo also states Blood members in New Jersey could try to kill police officers and their families. The concern is such that John Williamson, president of the city police department's Fraternal Order of Police, issued a warning to the department's police officers.
"All members should be mindful of their surroundings when coming to and leaving work," the memo states. "This will ensure no one is being watched or followed."
The rise in New Jersey gang activity is related to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, said retired Detective Wes Daily, of Suffolk County, N.Y. Daily, president of the East Coast Gang Investigators Association, said state law enforcement reallocated officers to defend against terrorism at the expense of street gang investigations. State police investigators agreed with Daily's evaluation.
"Next to terrorism, this is one of our most important internal problems in the United States," Daily said.
Daily said the Bloods have the motivation and the organization to carry through at least in part on their threats against the country's prison officers.
While New Jersey has for years been home to members of the East Coast Bloods, that gang had no real relationship other than a shared name with the West Coast Bloods, Daily said. But through relocation East and a new awareness of the money being made in the East Coast narcotics trade, West Coast gang members are looking to muscle in and take over their East Coast counterparts, Daily said.
"We have cowboys on the street," Daily said. "They don't care. They're going to shoot at anybody or anyone who gets in their way."
The turf fight has already led to violence in Newark, Bevacqui said. In recent weeks two officers have been wounded in shootouts with men believed to be members of the Brick City Brims, a North Jersey branch of the West Coast Bloods, he said.
"New Jersey is so small geographically, but we're so big in population that things that happen in one area of the state adversely affect things that happen in other areas of the state," he said.
Coleus,I worked with 4 gangs.Cribs and the blue and white bandanas and another at a dance show,the cribs were the worst.
They have a chapter in Linden where my Aunt lives. Their graffitti is all over the Linden/Roselle train station.