Gloucester Township mulls fines, jail time for parents of some teens who get arrested
The decision comes after the township decided to cancel its annual township festival because of violence at last year’s event.
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Gloucester Township is threatening fines and potential jail time for parents whose children are arrested for fighting and disorderly persons offenses.
The decision comes after the township decided to cancel its annual township festival because of violence at last year’s event, along with threats of violence this year.
Arrests were recently made at the Menlo Park Mall in Edison after 300 teenagers followed a social media post to meet up.
Seaside Heights and Wildwood have had the same issues, while Gloucester saw 500 teens cause issues for police last year at its annual festival.
Under the new ordinance in Gloucester, a parent would get a warning after a first offense.
After a second offense, a parent could be fined $2,000 or face jail time.
“I don’t anticipate people going to jail for 90 days. The point is, the judge has discretion there is due process here. It’s a warning, it’s trying to get the attention of parents to put them on notice,” said Mayor David Mayer.
The ordinance is seen as a way for Gloucester to deter any more chaos and get back its annual festival.
The mayor says that the decision to cancel this year’s event was made in April after a save-the-date notice was released.
The mayor says it was shared over 200,000 times.
The mayor says there were a lot of teens talking about bringing weapons to the event.
