Peralta pushes gang legislation

Assemblymember Jose Peralta is continuing his crusade to eliminate gangs from schools by increasing prevention resources geared towards young members of the community as well as calling for stricter penalties for those involved in gangs.
Peralta recently joined fellow Assemblymember Peter Rivera, community and law enforcement leaders outside the Department of Education headquarters in Manhattan to make a case for tougher legislation to curb gang violence around schools.
“Today, we attack gang activity with tougher legislation directed towards our educational system,” Peralta said. “Gang activity and recruitment will become much more difficult in our schools, and gang members will face tougher penalties.”
Peralta who represents communities in Jackson Heights, Corona and East Elmhurst where gang activity is prevalent, has sponsored bills allowing school districts to forbid students from wearing of gang-related apparel and give law enforcement agencies new assistance to tackle issues of recruitment, retention and coercion.
In addition to Peralta’s bills, Rivera introduced legislation that would increase prison time by up to five years for those convicted of gang-related activity.
“We are here to say that if you are evil enough to threaten the life of a child, if you are evil enough to interfere with their education, and if you are evil enough to place in danger the future of our communities, you ought to be punished in a very special way,” Rivera said during the press conference.
In addition to the two politicians, a slew of law enforcement agencies from throughout the state voiced support for the proposed legislation.
“This legislation is a comprehensive approach to stunting the ever-increasing gang problem in our community by eliminating the schools as a breeding ground for gang recruiters,” said John Fleming, President of the Detective Investigator’s Association.
Peralta said that he is hopeful that once the legislature finalizes the budget, this piece of legislation will begin moving through committee.
“This is something that should be so logical and so simple that everyone should be on board,” he said. “It’s the bureaucracy of it all that’s tying it up, but we really want a solution.”