Crime & Safety

Updated: Hightstown Council Decries Police Department's Handling of State Police Gang Report

Post-meeting press release calls the information borough police 'not founded in fact.'

The Hightstown Borough Council has publicly apologized for the actions of the , who provided the figures in the . That survey said the borough had the highest number of gangs and the second most gang members in the county—behind only Trenton.

Soon after the report went public, Borough Police Chief James Eufemia . In a statement issued to reporters, he called the numbers from the survey "estimates based upon knowledge and contacts with transient activity." Overall, he said, "The amount of gang activity in Hightstown is nearly non-existent."

Tuesday, in the second session closed to the public, this time held after the main portion of the Hightstown Borough Council meeting, councilmembers voted to issue a press release apologizing for what the borough described as unreliable data. The measure quotes the chief's earlier release, saying it "does not sufficiently address the enormity of the damage caused by the submission of data apparently without foundation to the New Jersey State Police about gang activity in Hightstown."

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The resolution cites the need for a press release "to repair the damage inflicted on Hightstown, our residents, our businesses, our neighboring communities, on East Windsor (in particular), the East Windsor Regional School District, The Peddie School, and all of the children and young adults who attend any of the schools in our district, following from the data, without apparent foundation in fact, which Hightstown Police had submitted to the New Jersey State Police for that entity’s survey of municipalities for specific categories of information about gangs and the criminal activity of gangs in New Jersey."

According to the text of the release, presented in full below, the Mayor Steve Kirson and the Borough Council will continue trying to "correct the damage." Mayor Kirson did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

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Chief Eufemia was at the public session of the meeting, but left when most department heads and professionals were dismissed. On Thursday, he e-mailed a response to the borough's press release.

"It was premature of Borough officials to issue a press release without having all of the information regarding the survey. I have not acknowledged that the survey data was unreliable," the chief wrote.

Chief Eufemia said he met with Mayor Kirson on Wednesday to discuss the borough's press release and the information in the gang survey and told him he could meet with the state police. According to the chief, the mayor told him he would review the situation and "response accordingly."

An earlier statement from a state police spokesman saying the numbers came from the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office appears to have been in error.

The full text of the borough's press release is below:

The Hightstown Borough Council and Hightstown’s Mayor Steve Kirson publicly express our regret that Hightstown Police, in February and March 2010, submitted data which appears to be without substance as Hightstown’s official response to the New Jersey State Police survey measuring gang presence and gang activity in New Jersey. The responses submitted by Hightstown Police for the Gangs Report (which was released just recently by the New Jersey State Police) appear not founded on fact.

Police Chief James Eufemia has acknowledged the unreliability of the data submitted by Hightstown Police. The Chief has already released a written statement in which he acknowledged: “There is no criminal activity to handle . . . . The amount of gang activity in Hightstown is nearly non-existent, with only one documented incident. . . . There are no specific, documented gangs operating in Hightstown.”

As elected officials in Hightstown, committed to serving the public interest, we are deeply embarrassed by this episode. We apologize publicly that this apparent misinformation about gangs in Hightstown has been released by Hightstown’s Police Department. We apologize publicly and sincerely to our residents, to our businesses, to our neighboring municipalities (and to East Windsor, in particular), to the East Windsor Regional School District, to all the children who attend the schools of our district and to their families, to The Peddie School, and to the New Jersey State Police. We express our deepest regret that this has happened, and commit ourselves to make sure nothing of this sort will be allowed to happen again under our watch. To that end, the Mayor and Council are taking further steps to correct the damage.

The release and resolution are also attached to this article as PDFs.

This article was updated Thursday at 1:08 p.m. to include Chief Eufemia's response.


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