Westfield Supports New Stronger Home Invasion, Burglary Law

WESTFIELD, NJ — Westfield is expressing their happiness and support for a new bill Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law that would increase penalties for home invasions and burglaries.

"The new law upgrades the type of robberies we've seen in Westfield to a felony where criminals break into homes in search of car keys which is now considered the equivalent to a home invasion under the new law. So believe it or not when they broke in for car keys it wasn't a home invasion so now it is," said Mayor Shelley Brindle at the Oct. 22 Council meeting.

Under the new legislation S3006/A4299, signed on Oct. 18, home invasion burglary is a crime in the first-degree. A crime of the first degree is punishable by a term of imprisonment of 10 to 20 years, a fine of up to $200,000, or both. Under the new law, residential burglary is a crime in the second-degree.

A crime of the second-degree is punishable by a term of imprisonment of five to 10 years, a fine of up to $150,000, or both. Both classifications of burglary are subject to the “No Early Release Act,” which requires the convicted person to serve at least 85 percent of their incarceration term before becoming eligible for parole.

The new law also allows teens 15 years and older to face prison sentences of up to 20 years.
Any person convicted of home invasion burglary or residential burglary may be denied a professional license from the Division of Consumer Affairs within the Department of Law and Public Safety.

"Obviously more can be done to address crime. I know the [Police] Chief is very happy about this and we hope that this serves not only as a deterrent for criminals but empowers our police department to arrest and detain those who are caught committing these crimes," said Brindle.

Brindle noted that the Town has been discussing the home burglary issues since early January and was looking for the right bill to support.

"I have been leveraging my role on the executive board of the New Jersey League of Municipalities to express support and have been providing relevant and information to the sponsors from Westfield including even the Ring video footage from the recent break-in on Dudley," said Brindle.

On Sept. 30 at 2:43 a.m., a resident of the 300 block of East Dudley Avenue reported a burglary to their home, along with theft of two motor vehicles from the home’s driveway.

Three actors forcefully pried open a window to get inside the home, said the resident.

The actors then found and removed keys belonging to the vehicles before leaving the home and stealing the motor vehicles from the driveway, said the resident.

The stolen vehicles' approximate value is $180,000.

"What's happening is those crime ring leaders in Newark are using juveniles to commit these crimes because there are very few consequences. Now there are if they are 15 years or older. Which I think is great," said Brindle.

— With reporting by Sarah Salvadore

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