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Politics & Government

Borough Residents Cry Foul Over Gang Report

At the Monday's Hightstown Council meeting, residents disagreed with the report's findings and the borough's response to them.

Growing doubts fueled angry Hightstown citizens at Monday night’s Borough Council meeting as many of their questions regarding the New Jersey State Police Gang Survey, issued earlier this year, remained unanswered.

According to , there are 23 different gangs and 119 gang members that reside in Hightstown, making it second only to Trenton for gang activity in Mercer County.

On Monday, officials from the New Jersey State Police of how the state went about retrieving those numbers and what they meant. They said that a member of each municipality is chosen to report those numbers to the state based on their own findings, who in this case was Det. Benjamin Miller.

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But even after that explanation, borough residents still asked why they had not seen any evidence of the gang activity described in the report.

George Serrano, a resident of the Hightstown community since 2004, argued that evidence of gangs and gang violence is nowhere to be found within the community. Serrano, born and raised in New York, said he witnessed gang violence growing up and sees no evidence of it in Hightstown. 

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“Whoever is saying this is scaring our community and it’s in error,” Serrano said during the portion of the meeting devoted to public comment.

Serrano and other Hightstown citizens said they were enraged by the report, specifically by how it could affect the borough in the long run, notably its property values. The data in the report indicated that Hightstown has a higher presence of gangs than nine of the ten cities in New Jersey with the highest crime rate.

With that indication alone, Hightstown citizens said they felt their town’s name had been tainted, branding the community a dangerous place to live, rather than the safe place they believe it to be.

“It affects the whole town, the whole region. It affects us all,” said Linda Caffrey, of East Windsor.

Residents expressed their anger with Borough Police Chief James Eufemia, as many of their questions regarding the Hightstown numbers in the state police survey still have not been answered. The chief was not present during the first, and longest, public commentary, which left many residents outraged.

“The issue is the accountability of our police force to the community, represented by the mayor and the council,” said Gayle Dorin, of Hightstown. “Why have you not required the police chief to address this issue?”

Many residents also asked who would want to live in Hightstown if it has been branded as if it had the eleventh-highest crime rate in New Jersey.

“For my state, that I have lived in all my life and loved, to publish such a report without realizing there are consequences to me is absurd,” Charles Stultz, of Hightstown, said at the conclusion of the public comment session.

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