Letter to the Editor Clarifies Gang Member Statistics in Berkeley Heights

(This Letter to the Editor was written by Theodore Romankow, prosecutor of Union County, to the residents of Berkeley Heights in response to the recent report on gang members in the township)

To the Editor:

Late last month the New Jersey State Police released its survey on the number of criminal gang members in our state. While the numbers were slightly increased since the last survey in 2007, Union County remained largely the same.

However for those who looked closely at the numbers, they likely saw a surprising detail from Berkeley Heights, in that the police reported 32 gang members in town. Residents were shocked to see that number and I immediately asked both the New Jersey State Police and the Berkeley Heights Police Department for an explanation.

The State Police requested the number of "transient" gang members in Berkeley Heights. The municipal officer who responded to the survey included those motorcycle gang members who attended annual Feast of Mount Carmel in the official response. These gang members were affiliated with the Pagan and Hell's Angels motorcycle groups. They do not live nor work in Berkeley Heights. Even though the officer complied with the technical definition of transient gang member, the reality is there are only three verified gang members in town.

There should be no tangible cause for alarm regarding the motorcycle gang members since they were in and out of Berkeley Heights on the same evening.

It should also be pointed out that Mount Carmel provided appropriate security for the feast and worked closely with several law enforcement agencies to provide safety for everyone. To my knowledge there was never any threat or incidents that would cause alarm or reason not to attend the feast in the future.

The tough reality is that there are three known gang members in Berkeley Heights and the Police Department as well as my Office is aware of their presence. New Providence, by comparison, has one verified gang member.  Unfortunately this is not unique for our state where gang members were reported in each of the 21 counties.

My office and the police departments are keenly aware of these criminal threats and committed to keep the residents of all Union County municipalities safe through a combination of smart policing, intelligence gathering and plans of action.

It is up to all of us to make sure our towns are the places we want them to be. If you see something, do not hesitate to contact the police and speak up. Only by all of us working together will we be able to keep our towns, county and country safe from the threat of gangs.


Theodore J. Romankow
Prosecutor of Union County