Local law enforcement have ramped up their efforts in response to the recent uptick in gun violence within Asbury Park.
Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni [shown above, at far right] held a press conference Wednesday to outline the concentrated efforts made by his office, Asbury Park Police, Neptune Police and the Monmouth County Sheriff’s office.
They made 101 arrests and seized 11 guns between Aug. 2 and Sept . 16.
The efforts to curb the violence fall under two general categories: community outreach and traditional law enforcement, Gramiccioni said.
Community outreach includes a “guns for cash” program, participation in the Asbury Park Community Development Initiative to form partnerships with faith-based leaders within the community and the establishment of a Monmouth County chapter of Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line.
On the tradition end of law enforcement, the number of detectives and support staff within the satellite office located on Main Street in Asbury Park has been doubled.
Grammiccioni’s office hosts monthly coordination meetings with federal, state and local law enforcement partners. The goal of these meeting is to share information about individuals they believe are “consistently involved” with the violent crimes in the area, he said.
An intelligence bureau is also being used to tracks and analyzes trends of violent crimes, gang activity and narcotics distribution, according to Gramiccioni.
“We have found that all of this activity is interrelated,” he said.
At the Wednesday conference, Gramiccioni’s office provided a list of the individuals, the locations of their arrests and residences, and the crimes they were arrested for. For visual representation, Gramiccioni referenced a map of Asbury Park and Neptune pinned with the locations of the arrests and addresses of those arrested.
The map shows 70 arrests took place in Asbury Park and 16 within the southeast quadrant of Neptune. The other 14 took place within the surrounding area, and a few from out of the county he said.
The list of individuals and their crimes provided by the prosecutor’s office accounts for 63 individuals. Of the 63 listed, 29 have addresses within Asbury Park.
Possession charges ranked highest on the list of crimes. Other charges brought upon the defendants include robbery, simple assault, contempt, weapons possession, obstruction, failure to pay child support and terroristic threats.
The minor charges allow the prosecutor’s office to “build cases” against the individuals arrested. “Traditionally, small crimes lead to big crimes,” he said.
“A lot of these arrests are priority targets,” he said. “These are people we know — through intelligence and information — are involved in more extensive criminal activity or who may have extensive criminal histories.”
Gramiccioni stressed the need for further community involvement to solve the crime issue within Asbury Park.
“We all share the burden of violent crime in this region equally, he said. “I need people to give a damn, as much as our law enforcement does.”
“We are doing our part,” said Asbury Park Police Chief Mark Kinmon. “We are going to continue to do our part.”
Kinmon’s department provides prevention efforts through a community relations unit to get community kids away from guns and violence, he said.
Since the rollout of the Crime Stoppers charity, Gramiccioni had expected to see more members of the community actively using the anonymous tip line, which grants cash rewards for information that leads to an arrest.
“I would love to stand up here and tell you the calls have been active,” he said, “but it hasn’t happened yet.”
To date, the Monmouth County Crime Stoppers have not doled out any cash rewards for tips that have been reported, he said.
[Photo at top: Standing with members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Neptune Police and Asbury Park Police, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni shows members of the press a map that pinpoints recent crime activity.]
————————————————————
Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook and Twitter.
