Local, county, state leaders seeking more control over juvenile suspects
SEA ISLE CITY — First District legislators intend to sponsor a bill that would free police officers’ hands to deal with disruptive, drunk or drugged youth.
County and municipal leaders, law enforcement officers and other stakeholders gathered Friday, Feb. 11, in Sea Isle City for a brainstorming session regarding trouble municipalities reportedly faced in dealing with juveniles last summer.
Mayor Len Desiderio was joined by state Sen. Michael Testa and Assemblymen Antwan McClellan and Eric Simonsen, as well as members of the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and municipal and county law enforcement leaders. They talked for about 90 minutes behind closed doors before opening the session to the media for questions as everyone began dispersing.
Testa said the legislators attended to listen to the concerns of law enforcement about the problems they were facing, specifically summer 2021.
“There are a lot of concerns from the mayors of our shore towns, law enforcement officials, about the marijuana and alcohol laws as they pertain to minors and their concerns that they believe law enforcement has been essentially handcuffed by the laws,” Testa said. “We discussed cleanup legislation that I will be sponsoring and Assemblymen McClellan and Simonsen will be sponsoring.”
Desiderio said he has heard complaints from residents and business owners about juveniles misbehaving.
“I have seen first-hand the problems that can occur when young people gather in large groups,” he stated in a news release announcing the meeting. “Therefore, I want to meet with elected officials and community leaders from the county and other municipalities, as well as our state legislators and law enforcement representatives, to create a plan of action that will address this problem, which is affecting towns up and down New Jersey’s coastline.”
At issue are the steps Gov. Phil Murphy took to try to reverse the social impact of state marijuana laws that disproportionately affected communities of color.
The state passed the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act on Dec. 27, 2020.
Murphy insisted that the new law clarify civil penalties for those under 21 caught with marijuana. An American Civil Liberties Union study on 2018 New Jersey arrest data found Black residents were arrested at a 3.5 times higher rate for marijuana possession than white residents.
A three-tier warning system was created and faced immediate backlash from law enforcement because it did not provide for parental notification for a first offense. An amendment to the measure now requires police to notify parents of a juvenile’s first offense involving alcohol or marijuana.
Another part of the measure that swiftly drew criticism allowed youth illegally detained or searched to file a complaint against the arresting officer.
“The way the law was written, if a law enforcement officer enforced the law formerly on the books, they could be charged with a third-degree crime,” Testa said. “They’ve been handcuffed. They were no longer allowed to apprehend a juvenile and notify their parents or they would potentially open themselves up to criminal liability.”
The law also eliminated the odor of marijuana as a reason for a stop and probable cause to search a juvenile or vehicle even if the marijuana were in plain sight.
Further, the law prevented authorities from detaining a juvenile who refused to provide his or her name and contact information.
“In certain shore towns there were large gatherings of underage people who were consuming alcohol and or marijuana, and in the past they would be able to have those individuals dispersed, have stationhouse adjustments and things of that nature, but as the law has been written and enacted they’re not able to really do that,” Testa said.
Simonsen, who is athletic director at Lower Cape May Regional High School, said it was a productive meeting.
“Any time you can get this many officials as a community to talk about an issue, that’s the first step,” he said, noting they discussed holding juveniles accountable.
Simonsen said there is no progressive discipline under the existing law.
“As an educator and a school administrator, you might not suspend someone the first time, you warn him, you call the parents. Maybe they get a detention the next time. If it happens again, maybe they get suspended. We all know what happens when there are no consequences,” he said. “Police officers are afraid to do their job because they’ll get in trouble.”
Assistant Prosecutor Ed Shim said the idea is to “change the laws so instead of taking away their powers, we’re empowering them to protect the community. Police officers want to protect the community and the new laws make it more difficult.”
McClellan, a member of Ocean City Council before being elected to the Legislature, said parents want to be notified what their kids are doing.
“So, you take the right away from the parents and you take the right away from police and then there’s just complete chaos,” he said. “So, parents need to be notified and police would like to notify the parents and then the kids will be all nice and harmonious over the summer.”
He said the changes they propose would show support for law enforcement.
“We need to make sure that we are taking care of the people that are trying to protect us,” McClellan said. “It doesn’t make any sense for the kids to be able to run wild and talk nasty to police and not respect them. They deserve to have an opportunity to go out and have fun but it should be respectful fun.”
“We just need to come together to give law enforcement some new tools and I’m confident that we’ll be able to enact some type of legislation,” Desiderio said.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK\/Sentinel staff