The South Brunswick and Monroe police departments are two of 21 in Middlesex County that will receive $5,000 each from a Bias Prevention and Education Grant from the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Rutgers University Police will also be awarded a $5,000 grant.
The grant will help each department combat bias crime, which Middlesex County Public Information Officer Jim O’Neill explained is any crime that is motivated by a type of bias, such as ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc.
The grants are funded by money and property seized from illegal activities, and Mr. O’Neill said the grants must be used by the police departments by Dec. 31.
According to the press release sent out Monday from the prosecutor’s office, the grants will help departments increase police patrols of neighborhoods and specific institutions, such as religious buildings, that may be targeted by “vandalism, harassment and physical assault.”
The grants also will fund educational programs in each police department to help teach the community about tolerance and New Jersey’s bias crime statutes.
”Ultimately, it would be up to each police department,” Mr. O’Neill said in regards to the specific kind of educational services that will be created.
”They’ll discuss what the concerns are and they will develop something. But generally speaking, one of the things that’s important is to recognize bias crime and how to report it.”
There’s a concern that sometimes someone will be a victim of a bias crime and may not know it, he said.
The initial idea for the grants was Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J Kaplan’s, Mr. O’Neill said. According to Mr. O’Neill, Prosecutor Kaplan had grown concerned about safety after recent bias crime incidents in the county.
Therefore, on Aug. 31, a press release went out from the prosecutor’s office that asked police departments to file proposed plans for the grants by Sept. 3.
Monroe Police Chief John J. Kraivec, president of the Middlesex County Association of Chiefs of Police, said bias crimes haven’t been a large problem in Monroe, but Monroe police will work with community leaders.
Chief Kraivec said Monroe police are going to have increased patrol, especially during the holiday season.
He also said Monroe police are looking into creating a lecture series to educate the community.
South Brunswick police Sgt. Hugh McNeil also said that bias crimes have not been a large problem in South Brunswick, but that Chief Raymond Hayducka and Deputy Chief Kevin Hughes specifically requested the grant to serve the community better.
Sgt. McNeil said that he spoke with Rabbi Azimov of the Chabad Jewish Center of South Brunswick, Rabbi Carlebach of the Chabad House Jewish Center of North and South Brunswick, and Arif Patel, a board member with the Islamic Society of Central Jersey.
”We set up patrols around various locations to create a bigger police presence to protect against vandalism,” he said of the specific directed patrols were then sent out through South Brunswick during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana and the Muslim month of Ramadan.
In the next few months, South Brunswick police will help other ethnic groups in the time leading up to, and on, their holidays, Sgt. McNeil said.
The department also has started educational services with a lecture given by South Brunswick Bias Officer Angelo Zecca to the Community Response Team about NJ bias statues and tolerance, Sgt. McNeil said.
”If any group is interested, the Police Department will be happy time permitting to address the group with what the state laws are and what to do,” Sgt. McNeil said.
He can be contacted at 732-329-4000 ext. 7410.
