CONAWAY/WATSON COLEMAN CRAFT BILL TO FIGHT RISING VIOLENCE IN NEW JERSEY

CONAWAY/WATSON COLEMAN CRAFT BILL TO FIGHT RISING VIOLENCE IN NEW JERSEYLawmakers Propose State Support for CeaseFire Program(TRENTON) -- Assemblyman Herb Conaway, M.D. and Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman have introduced legislation that would earmark $4 million in state health grants to help fund CeaseFire anti-violence pilot programs in Newark, Camden, and Trenton.

CeaseFire is a grassroots approach for counteracting the spread of violence and gang shooting in urban communities. First started in Chicago in the 1990s, the program uses reformed gang members and ex-cons to defuse hostile situations before they become violent.

Dr. Conaway, who is chairman of the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee, said he felt compelled to seek funding for pilot CeaseFire efforts in New Jersey because it has been shown to work in Chicago and other cities, where fatalities reportedly decreased 25 percent from 2004 to 2005.

Watson Coleman joined in sponsoring the bill in an effort to address a spate of gang-related shootings in Trenton, which she represents in the Assembly. The bill (A-2683) would appropriate $4 million to the Division of Family Health Services within the state Department of Health and Senior Services to implement a pilot program to reduce the high incidences of violence afflicting the cities of Camden, Newark, and Trenton.

"As a doctor who has worked in emergency room situations with trauma victims, I know first hand about how innocent, young lives can be destroyed by senseless violence," said Conaway (D-Burlington). "The violence in our streets is taxing our emergency services and driving up health care costs in urban communities. The upsurge in gang activity and street shootings in our neighborhoods threatens to rip apart the fabric of all of our communities."

Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) said a CeaseFire program could be extremely beneficial for Trenton.

"The recent surge in gang-related shootings and violence throughout New Jersey commands the attention of schools, advocacy organizations, churches, law enforcement professionals, businesses, and elected officials, " said Watson Coleman. "Gang activity is a growing menace, and we all need to work together to fight its insidious presence in our communities."

The New Jersey CeaseFire program would be modeled after the CeaseFire Chicago Project, the program established in 1995 in response to the increase in murders and violence devastating the city.

CeaseFire Chicago has successfully reduced homicide by 58 percent in six of the city’s highest-risk communities from 2000 to 2004. From 2000 to 2004, the number of cases of aggravated assaults using a firearm dropped by 43 percent.

CeaseFire programs often work in partnerships with community-organizations, residents, clergy, law enforcement, business leaders, and corporate and non-profit organizations.

The initiative seeks to identify residents at-risk for involvement in violent behavior and activities, and then notifies them of alternative conflict resolution services as well as the community’s policy of intolerance of the use of guns and violence.

The program also would provide street-based outreach programs to help residents find job opportunities, participate in education programs like courses to attain high-school-equivalency degrees, and give resident access to free counseling and mediation assistance to resolve conflicts that can lead to violence.

"Our law enforcement community needs all the help that can be mustered to prevent streets shootings and gang violence," said Conaway. "The CeaseFire concept is just such a creative tool that can and should be utilized."

The other integral part of the program would be the development of safe havens and after-school programs for residents in need of conflict mediation services. New Jersey CeaseFire brochures and information would be made available throughout the community’s businesses and churches to provide residents with information on anti-violence services.

The measure comes at a time when New Jersey law enforcement officials are trying to ascertain why homicide rates have been rising in large New Jersey cities like Newark and Trenton in recent years. Trenton, for example, suffered a record-high 31 murders last year. Newark had 97 homicides in 2005 -- the third consecutive year with an increase. Crime experts suspect rising gang activity as a likely cause.

The measure has been assigned to the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee.

--30--