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Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Personal Safety Tips for Child Support Professionals

Explore practical safety tips for child support professionals, including dealing with difficult individuals and understanding gang trends in New Jersey. Learn 8 steps for ensuring your safety in challenging situations.

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Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Personal Safety Tips for Child Support Professionals

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  1. Somerset County Sheriff’s OfficePersonal Safety Tips for Child Support Professionals Officer David Syring Somerset County Sheriff’s Office 20 Grove Street Somerville, NJ 08876 (908) 231-7140

  2. Introduction • 10 Years experience with Sheriff’s Office • Assigned to Administrative Division • Participated in numerous child support warrant roundups during tenure

  3. Somerset County Sheriff’s Office • Home to the President of Sheriff’s Association of New Jersey • Authority to arrest • Corrections—County Jail Administration • Service of Process: summons, evictions, warrants • Courtroom Security • Prison Transport • Motor Vehicle Investigations • Special Services: Gang & terrorism, school resources, K-9

  4. Agenda • Overview • Knowing Your Population: NJ Gang Statistics • Common Reported Child Support Issues • Safety: 8 Steps For Dealing with Difficult Individuals • Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Warrant Arrest Statistics

  5. Overview • Understanding who the child support professional is engaging is crucial to the worker’s safety. • Having an understanding of the various dynamics of dealing with difficult people will greatly increase safety for child support case workers.

  6. Gang Trends In New JerseyNew Jersey State Police (NJSP) (2007, p. 3)

  7. Who’s Who and Where?NJSP (2007, p. 4) • Five gangs are reported present in fifty or more of New Jersey municipalities: • Bloods (211 towns); • Latin Kings (118); • Crips (112); • MS-13 (65), • Pagans Motorcycle Club(57). • A sixth gang, Ñeta, is present in forty-six (46) municipalities statewide.

  8. Who’s Who and Where? (Con’t) • The Bloods street gang was named by a large majority (87%) of municipal respondents • Reporting the presence of gangs. No other gang was named by more than half of the municipalities with a gang presence.

  9. Gang CharacteristicsNJSP (2007, p. 5) • Proportion of Municipalities with Gangs Reporting Presence of: • 2004 Gang Survey 2007 Gang Survey • Bloods 58% 87% • MS-13 20% 27% • Ñeta 12% 19% • Most municipalities report gangs as ‘thin on the ground’ • 84% of municipalities report a gang size of fewer than 50 members or less

  10. Gang Characteristics (Con’t) • About 28% of municipalities that reported gangs have a ‘high-intensity’ gang presence. • Sixty towns have five or more of the ‘Top 14’ gangs, and roughly a dozen of these municipalities reported multiple gangs each with memberships of 100 or more.

  11. Common Gang CrimesNJSP (2007, p. 6) • Assaults and aggravated assaults are the most common violent crimes reported. • Sexual assaults are relatively rare. • Types of gang theft crimes reported tend to be ‘crimes of opportunity’ or ‘impulse, rather than crimes requiring planning, resources or organization. • Drug crimes constitute almost half of all criminal activity attributed to gangs. • Retail sales of marijuana and cocaine make up the largest proportion of narcotics crimes attributed to gang members.

  12. Common Reported Child Support Issues • Dealing with individuals in our complex society has become increasingly challenging. • Individuals involved with child support are usually stressed about meeting their financial obligations • Some may be involved with gangs • Many will be young adults that are simply overwhelmed

  13. Safety: 8 Steps for Dealing with Difficult Individuals • DO NOT respond in kind. Hostility often begets hostility. • Take them seriously, have empathy, understand and validate their feelings. Use “I” messages. • Never argue with someone if they are intoxicated. CALL LOCAL AUTHORITIES • Respond to the feelings they are having; not the content of what they are saying.

  14. 8 Steps (continued) • Don’t take things personally. • Allow angry individuals to physically escape the situation. If they need to be apprehended, call the police. • Don’t defend yourself by attacking back at them or their character flaws. • Don’t try to solve an emotional issue with logical arguments (Fiore, 2011 ¶ 1)

  15. Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Child Support Warrant Statistics January 1, 2010 - December 31, 2010 Four Hundred Eight Six (486) Processed In FFY10, Somerset Sheriff’s Office collected $335k in child support collections

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