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Politics & Government

Former, Current Gang Members, Activists Talk Ceasefire

Expressed skepticism gang intervention program would work

Newark police and city officials want to entice gang members and drug dealers out of a life of crime through a strategy known as Ceasefire in September, but some self-proclaimed gang members say they don't think it will work.

The program gives gang members the option to leave a life of crime or be sent to federal prison if caught, according to . The initiative is the brainchild of of David Kennedy, the director for the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The city will be working with Kennedy and Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice in Newark to gather intelligence.

The $600,000 annual, privately funded strategy is slated to begin in September or October, according to DeMaio. He said once the neighborhoods and gang members are identified, the members will be "called" for a meeting to discuss options in leaving a life of crime.

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James  "Loose" White, an alleged Crip member and peace activist, told Patch he doesn't think the carrot-and-stick approach will work because people in the streets distrust city administrators and the police.

"They (gang members) would think it's a trap," said White, who was a speaker at the Newark Peace Education Summit in May.

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But White added that the program could be successful if it recruits credible partners in the community.

"They need guys like me and other guys; they have enough leverage to push this particular movement," he said.

Lamont Vaughn, also known as "Tru V," an alleged Bloods member and anti-violence activist, also agrees Ceasefire won't work.

"They (gang members) will go from one corner to another corner," he said. "There are not enough police officers to dismantle gangs."

Vaughn also argued a credible organization, from mosques to churches, should approach the gangs and not necessarily the police.

"Why make it a police demand?" Vaughn said. "It's an all-hands-on-deck mission."

DeMaio told Patch that the program is bound to have skeptics among gang members, but that the police department effectively will target specific areas in the city.

"I think the proof will be in once we get it off the ground and get it going and the people that are skeptics will be sitting back and watching the program and then they'll come around," he said. DeMaio said the program will not conduct only one "call out," or round up of alleged gang members and drug dealers, but multiple, "We're going to continue to go out there and do the outreach part of the program to everybody in that area we're in."

Newark has an estimated 23 street gangs with more than 2,600 members, according to a 2010 study released by the New Jersey State Police. 

Marques-Aquil Lewis, a school advisory board member, a former Crip and an anti-violence activist, said Ceasefire may work if implemented correctly and has a continuous stream of money flowing to the program.

"If they run out of money, it (people) will be up in arms again," he said. "People will have to do what they do in order to survive."

People close to the program have said they will enlist community organizations. Lewis' church, New Light Missionary Baptist Church, which is headed by Pastor Sean Evans and is located on the border of the West and Centrals wards, has not yet been approached, said Lewis, who also preaches there.

Ceasefire may turn away some gang members from the streets, but all three men — White, Vaughn and Lewis — left their criminal pasts behind by solely relying on family, friends and, most of all, maturation and growing self-knowledge.

These days, they try to dissuade their friends to turn away from the typical gang-banging life. "What it really takes," White said, "is when someone willingly reaches for transformation. It's something you want to do. Something within — not a bribe."

One such person who wants to turn a new leaf is an alleged Bloods member named M, who was released from prison after several months on a drug dealing charge. Patch is not using M's real identity because of safety concerns. Back in his old stomping grounds in the Central Ward, M said he was done with selling marijuana and heroin.

"I need to get a job. I need to do something legal," he said. M said he was receptive to the idea of Ceasefire, "Give it a try and see what happens."

— Joshua Wilwohl contributed to this report.

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