Teachers and any other profession that deals with adolescent and young adults should also be trained in this area to help 'pool' information and help 'extinguish' youth at risk of gang activity.

Jersey City Firefighters recruited in war against gangs

February 24 -- By JASON TSAI - The Record

Police have enlisted a new ally in their battle against gangs, drugs and terrorism -- firefighters.

Firefighters in the state's inner cities are being trained by the state police and the Division of Fire Safety to act as "an extra set of eyes and ears on the ground," said state police Capt. Matthew Hartigan.

It means that firefighters in 14 cities, including Paterson, will be looking for evidence of criminal activity -- fake documents, bomb-making material, drug stashes -- whenever they enter homes or businesses on fire calls.

Authorities stress that the "Fire Gangs" initiative is not asking firefighters to become police officers. Instead, they want firefighters, often the first emergency personnel on a scene, to recognize the telltale signs of criminality.

Mirroring the state police initiative is Teaneck, which is specifically training its Fire Department on emerging gang threats.

"We're asking you to be aware of the gang activity that's going on in the township and surrounding communities," Teaneck police Detective Dave Kelter told a group of township firefighters on Friday.

Although fire and police forces have long worked in tandem, authorities said the new partnerships take an innovative approach to crime fighting. Also novel, they said, is the sharing of police intelligence with fire companies.

Towns that participate in the "Fire Gangs" program, for instance, will gain access to the state police crime database located at its new intelligence center in West Trenton, Hartigan said.

State police detectives will keep fire departments aware of new trends in crime. Teaneck detectives will provide the same intelligence to township firefighters, Kelter said.

"They're first on the scene of many emergencies and see things that many others don't," said state police spokesman Al Della Fave.

They're also traditionally seen by criminals as less of a "threat" than police, Hartigan said.

"When a fire department vehicle comes down the road, nobody really pays attention to it," he said. "Criminals seem to let down their guard when it's fire -- and not police -- that's driving by."

The fire departments participating in the program are located in cities that receive funding from Operation CeaseFire -- a state program to combat violence in inner cities.

In addition to Paterson, other fire departments taking part are in cities such as Jersey City, Elizabeth and Newark, the state police said.

Teaneck, which does not receive CeaseFire funding, began its program earlier this month. Kelter's presentation Friday morning was the last of four he has given to the Fire Department's shifts.

Much of his hour-long presentation focused on signs for which firefighters will be on the lookout -- including the color of clothing, gang graffiti and how to interpret gang slang they may overhear while at an emergency scene.

The goal, township Fire Chief Robert Montgomery said, is to prevent firefighters from developing "tunnel vision" while doing their jobs.

"Graffiti on a wall may look like nothing at all," said Teaneck Police Chief Paul Tiernan. "But by training the Fire Department, they may learn about gang-related activity while they're also putting out fires."

Kelter called the police and fire partnership "pure civic responsibility."

"It's all of our jobs to report something illegal when we see it," he said. "No, we're not asking you to actively go out and look for anything gang-related. But the Police Department can't do it totally on its own."

E-mail: tsai@northjersey.com