An Act concerning criminal gang activity, amending R.S.40:48-1 and supplementing Title 40 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. (New section) As used in this act:

a. "Gang loitering" means remaining in any one place under circumstances that would warrant a reasonable person to believe that the purpose or effect of that behavior is to enable a criminal street gang to establish control over identifiable areas, to intimidate others from entering those areas, or to conceal illegal activities.

b. "Criminal street gang" means any ongoing organization, association in fact or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having as one if its substantial activities the commission of one or more of the criminal acts enumerated in subsection c. of this section, and whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity.

c. "Criminal gang activity" means the commission, attempted commission or solicitation of the following offenses, provided that the offenses are committed by two or more persons, or by an individual at the direction of, or in association with, any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members:

(1) N.J.S.2C:11-3, murder;

(2) N.J.S.2C:11-4, aggravated manslaughter or manslaughter;

(3) N.J.S.2C:11-5, vehicular homicide;

(4) subsection b. of N.J.S.2C:12-1, aggravated assault;

(5) subsection b. of section 1 of P.L.1996, c.14 (C.2C:12-11), disarming a law enforcement officer;

(6) N.J.S.2C:13-1, kidnapping;

(7) subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:14-2, aggravated sexual assault;

(8) subsection b. of N.J.S.2C:14-2 and paragraph (1) of subsection c. of N.J.S.2C:14-2, sexual assault;

(9) N.J.S.2C:15-1, robbery;

(10) section 1 of P.L.1993, c.221 (C.2C:15-2), carjacking;

(11) paragraph (1) of subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:17-1, aggravated arson;

(12) N.J.S.2C:18-2, burglary;

(13) subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:20-5, extortion;

(14) subsection b. of section 1 of P.L.1997, c.185 (C.2C:35-4.1), booby traps in manufacturing or distribution facilities; or

(15) N.J.S.2C:35-9, strict liability for drug induced deaths.

d. "Pattern of criminal gang activity" means two or more acts of criminal gang activity of which at least two such acts were committed within five years of each other.

e. "Public place" means the public way and any other location open to the public, whether publicly or privately owned.

2. (New section) A municipality may enact an ordinance providing that whenever a law enforcement officer observes a member of a criminal street gang engaged in gang loitering with one or more other persons in any public place designated for the enforcement of that ordinance pursuant to section 3 of this act, the officer shall, subject to guidelines promulgated by the chief law enforcement officer of the municipality:

a. inform all such persons that they are engaged in gang loitering within an area in which loitering by groups containing criminal street gang members is prohibited;

b. order all such persons to disperse and remove themselves from within sight and hearing of the place at which the order was issued; and

c. inform those persons that they will be subject to arrest if they fail to obey the order promptly, or engage in further gang loitering within sight or hearing of the place at which the order was issued during the following three hours.

3. (New section) The ordinance shall provide that the chief law enforcement officer of a municipality shall designate by written directive areas of the municipality in which he has determined that enforcement of such an ordinance is necessary because gang loitering has enabled criminal street gangs to establish control over identifiable areas, to intimidate others from entering those areas, or to conceal illegal activities. Prior to making a determination under this section, the chief law enforcement officer shall consult appropriate persons who are knowledgeable about the effects of gang activity in areas in which the ordinance may be enforced. These persons may include, but need not be limited to, members of the law enforcement agency with training or experience related to criminal street gangs; other personnel of that department with particular knowledge of gang activities in the proposed designated area; elected officials; the county prosecutor; and community based organizations. The chief law enforcement officer shall periodically review and revise these designations as required.

4. (New section) The ordinance shall provide that any person who fails to obey promptly an order issued under the ordinance or who engages in further gang loitering within sight or hearing of the place at which such an order was issued during the following three hour period is a disorderly person. In addition, the ordinance shall provide that the violator shall perform community service for a period of 30 days. The penalty for a second or subsequent offense shall include a mandatory minimum period of imprisonment of not less than 15 days.

5. R.S.40:48-1 is amended to read as follows:

40:48-1. Ordinances; general purpose. The governing body of every municipality may make, amend, repeal and enforce ordinances to:

Finances and property. 1. Manage, regulate and control the finances and property, real and personal, of the municipality;

Contracts and contractor's bonds. 2. Prescribe the form and manner of execution and approval of all contracts to be executed by the municipality and of all bonds to be given to it;

Officers and employees; duties, terms and salaries. 3. Prescribe and define, except as otherwise provided by law, the duties and terms of office or employment, of all officers and employees; and to provide for the employment and compensation of such officials and employees, in addition to those provided for by statute, as may be deemed necessary for the efficient conduct of the affairs of the municipality;

Fees. 4. Fix the fees of any officer or employee of the municipality for any service rendered in connection with his office or position, for which no specific fee or compensation is provided. In the case of salaried officers or employees, such fee shall be paid into the municipal treasury;

Salaries instead of fees; disposition of fees. 5. Provide that any officer or employee receiving compensation for his services, in whole or in part by fees, whether paid by the municipality or otherwise, shall be paid a salary to be fixed in the ordinance, and thereafter all fees received by such officer or employee shall be paid into the municipal treasury;

Maintain order. 6. Prevent vice, drunkenness and immorality; to preserve the public peace and order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and disorderly assemblages; to prohibit the consumption of alcoholic beverages by underage persons on private property pursuant to section 1 of P.L.2000, c.33 (C.40:48-1.2); to control gang-related loitering and criminal activity pursuant to P.L. , c. (C. ) (now pending before the Legislature as this bill);

Punish beggars; prevention of loitering. 7. Restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants, mendicants and street beggars; to prevent loitering, lounging or sleeping in the streets, parks or public places;

Auctions and noises. 8. Regulate the ringing of bells and the crying of goods and other commodities for sale at auction or otherwise, and to prevent disturbing noises;

Swimming; bathing costume; prohibition of public nudity. 9. Regulate or prohibit swimming or bathing in the waters of, in, or bounding the municipality, and to regulate or prohibit persons from appearing upon the public streets, parks and places clad in bathing costumes or robes, or costumes of a similar character; regulate or prohibit persons from appearing in a state of nudity upon all lands within its borders which are under the jurisdiction of the State including, without limitation, all lands owned by, controlled by, managed by or leased by the State;

Prohibit annoyance of persons or animals. 10. Regulate or prohibit any practice tending to frighten animals, or to annoy or injure persons in the public streets;

Animals; pounds; establishment and regulation. 11. Establish and regulate one or more pounds, and to prohibit or regulate the running at large of horses, cattle, dogs, swine, goats and other animals, and to authorize their impounding and sale for the penalty incurred, and the costs of impounding, keeping and sale; to regulate or prohibit the keeping of cattle, goats or swine in any part of the municipality; to authorize the destruction of dogs running at large therein;

Hucksters. 12. Prescribe and regulate the place of vending or exposing for sale articles of merchandise from vehicles;

Building regulations; wooden structures. 13. Regulate and control the construction, erection, alteration and repair of buildings and structures of every kind within the municipality; and to prohibit, within certain limits, the construction, erection or alteration of buildings or structures of wood or other combustible material;

Inflammable materials; inspect docks and buildings. 14. Regulate the use, storage, sale and disposal of inflammable or combustible materials, and to provide for the protection of life and property from fire, explosions and other dangers; to provide for inspections of buildings, docks, wharves, warehouses and other places, and of goods and materials contained therein, to secure the proper enforcement of such ordinance;

Dangerous structures; removal or destruction; procedure. 15. Provide for the removal or destruction of any building, wall or structure which is or may become dangerous to life or health, or might tend to extend a conflagration; and to assess the cost thereof as a municipal lien against the premises;

Chimneys and boilers. 16. Regulate the construction and setting up of chimneys, furnaces, stoves, boilers, ovens and other contrivances in which fire is used;

Explosives. 17. Regulate, in conformity with the statutes of this State, the manufacture, storage, sale, keeping or conveying of gunpowder, nitroglycerine, dynamite and other explosives;

Firearms and fireworks. 18. Regulate and prohibit the sale and use of guns, pistols, firearms, and fireworks of all descriptions;

Soft coal. 19. Regulate the use of soft coal in locomotives, factories, power houses and other places;

Theatres, schools, churches and public places. 20. Regulate the use of theatres, cinema houses, public halls, schools, churches, and other places where numbers of people assemble, and the exits therefrom, so that escape therefrom may be easily and safely made in case of fire or panic; and to regulate any machinery, scenery, lights, wires and other apparatus, equipment or appliances used in all places of public amusement;

Excavations. 21. Regulate excavations below the established grade or curb line of any street, not greater than eight feet, which the owner of any land may make, in the erection of any building upon his own property; and to provide for the giving of notice, in writing, of such intended excavation to any adjoining owner or owners, and that they will be required to protect and care for their several foundation walls that may be endangered by such excavation; and to provide that in case of the neglect or refusal, for 10 days, of such adjoining owner or owners to take proper action to secure and protect the foundations of any adjacent building or other structure, that the party or parties giving such notice, or their agents, contractors or employees, may enter into and upon such adjoining property and do all necessary work to make such foundations secure, and may recover the cost of such work and labor in so protecting such adjacent property; and to make such further and other provisions in relation to the proper conduct and performance of said work as the governing body or board of the municipality may deem necessary and proper;

Sample medicines. 22. Regulate and prohibit the distribution, depositing or leaving on the public streets or highways, public places or private property, or at any private place or places within any such municipality, any medicine, medicinal preparation or preparations represented to cure ailments or diseases of the body or mind, or any samples thereof, or any advertisements or circulars relating thereto, but no ordinance shall prohibit a delivery of any such article to any person above the age of 12 years willing to receive the same;

Boating. 23. Regulate the use of motor and other boats upon waters within or bounding the municipality;

Fire escapes. 24. Provide for the erection of fire escapes on buildings in the municipality, and to provide rules and regulations concerning the construction and maintenance of the same, and for the prevention of any obstruction thereof or thereon;

Care of injured employees. 25. Provide for the payment of compensation and for medical attendance to any officer or employee of the municipality injured in the performance of his duty;

Bulkheads and other structures. 26. Fix and determine the lines of bulkheads or other works or structures to be erected, constructed or maintained by the owners of lands facing upon any navigable water in front of their lands, and in front of or along any highway or public lands of said municipality, and to designate the materials to be used, and the type, height and dimensions thereof;

Lifeguard. 27. Establish, maintain, regulate and control a lifeguard upon any beach within or bordering on the municipality;

Appropriation for life-saving apparatus. 28. Appropriate moneys to safeguard people from drowning within its borders, by location of apparatus or conduct of educational work in harmony with the plans of the United States volunteer life-saving corps in this State;

Fences. 29. Regulate the size, height and dimensions of any fences between the lands of adjoining owners, whether built or erected as division or partition fences between such lands, and whether the same exist or be erected entirely or only partly upon the lands of any such adjoining owners, or along or immediately adjacent to any division or partition line of such lands. To provide, in such ordinance, the manner of securing, fastening or shoring such fences, and for surveying the land when required by statute, and to prohibit in any such ordinance the use at a height of under 10 feet from the ground, of any device, such as wire or cable, that would be dangerous to pedestrians, equestrians, bicyclists, or drivers of off-the-road vehicles, unless that device is clearly visible to pedestrians, equestrians, bicyclists or drivers of off-the-road vehicles. In the case of fences thereafter erected contrary to the provisions thereof, the governing body may provide for a penalty for the violation of such ordinance, and in the case of such fence or fences erected or existing at the time of the passage of any such ordinance, may provide therein for the removal, change or alteration thereof, so as to make such fence or fences comply with the provisions of any such ordinance;

Advertise municipality. 30. Appropriate funds for advertising the advantages of the municipality;

Government Energy Aggregation Programs. 31. Establish programs and procedures pursuant to which the municipality may act as a government aggregator pursuant to sections 40 through 45 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-89 through C.48:3-94). Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, a municipality acting as a government aggregator pursuant to P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.) shall not be deemed to be a public utility pursuant to R.S.40:62-24 or R.S.48:1-1 et seq. or be deemed to be operating any form of public utility service pursuant to R.S.40:62-1 et seq., to the extent such municipality is solely engaged in the provision of such aggregation service and not otherwise owning or operating any plant or facility for the production or distribution of gas, electricity, steam or other product as provided in R.S.40:62-12.

(cf: P.L.2001, c.36, s.1)

6. This act shall take effect on the first day of the third month after enactment.

STATEMENT

This bill permits municipalities to enact ordinances allowing police departments to curb gang loitering.

The bill defines a "criminal street gang" as an ongoing organization, association in fact or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having as one of its substantial activities the commission of one or more of the criminal acts enumerated in the bill, and whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity. The enumerated offenses are violent crimes for which a convicted person would be required to serve 85% of the sentence imposed before being eligible for parole.

Subject to guidelines of the chief law enforcement officer of the municipality, the bill provides that a municipality may enact an ordinance permitting a law enforcement officer who observes a member of a criminal street gang engaged in gang loitering to (1) inform such persons that they are engaged in gang loitering within an area in which loitering by groups of criminal street gang members is prohibited; (2) order such persons to disperse and remove themselves from within sight and hearing of the place at which the order was issued; and (3) inform those persons that they will be subject to arrest if they fail to obey the order promptly or engage in further gang loitering within sight or hearing of the place at which the order was issued during the following three hours.

The ordinance must further provide that the chief law enforcement officer of a municipality shall designate, by written directive, areas of the municipality in which he has determined that enforcement of such an ordinance is necessary, because gang loitering has enabled criminal street gangs to establish control over identifiable areas, to intimidate others from entering those areas, or to conceal illegal activities. Prior to making this determination, the chief law enforcement officer is required to consult appropriate persons who are knowledgeable about the effects of gang activity in areas in which the ordinance may be enforced. These persons may include, but need not be limited to, members of the law enforcement agency with training or experience related to criminal street gangs; other personnel of that department with particular knowledge of gang activities in the proposed designated area; elected officials; the county prosecutor; and community based organizations. The chief law enforcement officer also is required to periodically review and revise these designations as required.

Finally, the order must provide that any person who fails to obey promptly an order issued under the ordinance or who engages in further gang loitering within sight or hearing of the place at which such an order was issued during the following three hour period is a disorderly person. In addition, the violators are required to perform community service for a period of 30 days. A second or subsequent offense is punishable by a mandatory minimum period of imprisonment of at least 15 days.