News Flash From The People’s Socialist-Democratic Republic Of New Jersey
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
PATERSON, N.J. — Curfews might not be just for kids anymore in one northern New Jersey city.
Seeking to curb violence after a spate of deadly summer shootings, Paterson officials are considering an unusual ordinance that would prevent people of all ages from gathering outside in public late at night.
The measure could be the nation’s first citywide, non-emergency curfew to include adults, several experts said.
“We’re trying to think outside the box,” said Mayor Jose Torres. “This was triggered predominantly by fear among city residents over the shootings that have been occurring this summer.”
A 29-year-old Paterson man was gunned down in his car last week in the latest chapter of a tit-for-tat battle between rival groups, according to police who decline to describe them as gangs. The battle has generated community fear, even though overall shootings and violence remain low by historical standards.
Paterson, New Jersey’s third-largest city at 147,000 people, has had six homicides and 30 shootings this year, according to city data. That compares with 13 homicides and 37 shootings for the same period of 2008.
By latest count, that puts Paterson right up there with Newark and Camden, in a state ruled by the Democrats, and all of it’s major metropolitan cesspools under the thumb of the democratic machine for the last 50 years.
