Quote:

You're a gem, aren't you? Chase them away? How about improved social services? "Chasing" the poor, homeless, addicted, etc. from one town to another solves exactly nothing.

Quote:

It goes back further than the panhandling.

Jersey City man charged with selling heroin to man with 46 prior arrests

If Mr. Bradford had been institutionalized for his mental illness/addiction - as his long arrest record perhaps indicates - he may have still been here.

We blow our horns about criminal justice reform, but we wear full blindfolds about the necessary reforms in the treatment of the mental illness that leads to criminality. As a society, we have to admit that closing long-term mental hospitals and prohibiting caregivers from committing family members who needed and refused help, was a mistake (well intended to fight the abuses, but a mistake nonetheless). We need more treatment facilities for addiction and we cannot let folks out after 30 days expecting them to be cured.

The sad thing is all this could of been avoided if the police chase these panhandlers away. They are all over 440 & the highway & the Communipaw Ave bridge.
They are all agressive pandhandling and everyone needs to call this in to JCPD 201 547 5477 to chase them away!

R.I.P. Willie Joe Bradford...

A 50-year-old man suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck by a van as it came to a stop at a red light in Jersey City, authorities said.

Around 10:40 p.m. Friday police responded to the Kennedy Boulevard and?Communipaw Avenue intersection?for?a call?of a pedestrian struck by a Ford Econoline van, according to a police report.?

The van's 25-year-old driver told police he was slowing to a stop at a red traffic light when a "staggering" man walked into his lane and came in contact with the van. The driver said the man was panhandling as vehicles passed, the report states.

Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said the man fell to the ground after the collision.?

Bystanders and police found the man unresponsive with minor bleeding. He was?taken to Jersey City Medical Center, according to the police report.?

The victim's CT scan showed he sustained a traumatic brain injury and internal kidney damage, the police report indicates. He was unconscious and under ventilation at the time of the report.

The man's current condition was not immediately available.

The van sustained "moderate damage" to the left front sealed beam headlight and grille. The driver's view was unobstructed, according to the report.

Wallace-Scalcione said it was unclear whether any summonses were issued to the driver.?