03-16-18 Volume 4 Issue 22

“Last October, Sayfullo Saipov, a remain under the radar and keep
New Jersey resident drove a to themselves.
truck down a bike path in lower
Manhattan, killing eight and injur- As a result of the “See Some-
ing 11. While this horrific attack thing – Say Something” cam-
occurred in New York City, paign and the current
Saipova lived and planned his at- hypersensitive community, police
tack in New Jersey,” said Jared are stopping and making arrests
Maples, Director of the New Jer- in regards to these so called
sey Office of Homeland Security homegrown radicals. Case in
and Preparedness. point, last May law enforcement
received a tip from a family mem-
Those remarks were part of the ber which led to the arrest and
2018 unclassified Terrorism charging of Gregory Pepsky of
Threat Assessment for the Gar- Point Pleasant Borough with
den State. “This is a reminder plotting to build a pressure-
that individuals who want to dis- cooker bomb and detonate it in
rupt our way of life are here and New York City.
willing to travel across state lines
to execute attacks. Furthermore,
this case demonstrated that
while groups like ISIA are suffer-
ing battlefield losses overseas,
they are still capable of inspiring
individuals here.

For the upcoming year the
biggest threat we face here in
New Jersey according to the re-
port are “Homegrown Violent Ex-
tremists”. Many of radical
individuals are difficult for home-
land security officials and law en-
forcement to locate as they

What extremist activity May 6; Black Separatist Extrem-
did New Jersey see in ist: authorities arrest a national
leader of the New Black Panther
2017? Party – a black separatist ex-
tremist group in Newark on
February 21; Homegrown Vio- weapons charges, according to a
lent Extremist: Law enforcement statement the group released
arrested Gregory Lepsky in Point later in the month.
Pleasant Borough for plotting to
build a pressure cooker bomb October 10; White Supremacist
and detonate in NYC in support Extremist: Authorities arrest a
of ISIS. suspect in Bergen County for ter-
roristic threats, bias intimidation,
March 28; Anarchist Extremists and harassment after sending
and supports of the US President anti-Semitic letters with white su-
clash in Seaside Heights. premacist rhetoric to businesses
and police officers in New Jersey.
March 31; Sovereign Citizen Ex-
tremists: Following a car accident October 31; Homegrown Violent
in Rochelle Park, police arrest a Extremist: Law enforcement ar-
sovereign citizen extremist for rest New Jersey resident Say-
failure to comply and resisting ar- fullo Saipov – an Isis
rest, after providing false docu- sympathizer – after he drove a
mentation. During the altercation, rented vehicle down a bike path
police also arrested the subject’s in lower Manhattan, killing eight
associate for assault. and injuring 11.

April 13; White Supremacist Ex- December 29; White Suprema-
tremist: Authorities arrest Joshua cist Extremist: Authorities arrest
Steever, the leader of the New an Atlantic City skinheads mem-
Jersey based International White ber in Galloway Township for
Supremacist Organization in possession of illegal weapons
Phillipsburg. and narcotics.

The Persistent Threat with an unidentified individual planatory you fight for the sake of
from Homegrown stating, “I read alot about jihad… God.”
Violent Extremist and shariah law… its self ex-
HVEs

HVEs will continue operating in
New Jersey and the surrounding
region, while reaching out to like-
minded individuals online. Over
the last decade, terrorist groups,
such as ISIS and al-Qa’ida in the
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), have
encouraged HVEs to conduct at-
tacks in the country where they
reside.

Since 2015, there have been 33
HVE arrests in the tristate region,
which includes New Jersey, New
York, and Pennsylvania.

In March, authorities arrested
Elvis Redzepagic—a Nusrah
Front and ISIS sympathizer—
who “made numerous attempts
to travel to Syria to wage violent
jihad.” Redzepagic, a New York
resident, reached out to sympa-
thizers online after seeing im-
ages of his cousin fighting in
Syria. Redzepagic also ex-
changed Facebook messages







What did we learn about Domestic Terrorism in 2017



















Thank you New Jersey Office of Homeland Security & Preparedness and the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security for the detailed information used for this issue of the WAVE.

Teacher fired sues for The older teacher sued, alleging based police officers by allowing
age bias age bias. The court said the them to use radar on motorists
teacher stated a valid prima facie passing through school crossing
A Pennsylvania federal judge re- IDEA claim, as she was over 40, zones.
jected the age discrimination she produced reference letters
claim of a 56-year old teacher from former principals attesting Edna Umeh
who was replaced by a younger to her qualifications as a teacher, In Georgia, school police are not
educator. she was fired, and she was re- authorized to use radar to en-
placed by a teacher in her 20s. force traffic laws.
The veteran teacher worked for The problem, according to sup-
the district for 25 years. But dur- The burden shifted to the school porters of the bill, is that during
ing the last two years there, she to show a legitimate, non-dis- arrival and dismissal times, only
racked up infractions that re- criminatory reason for the termi- school-based police patrol the
sulted in unsatisfactory evalua- nation. The school produced areas in school crossing zones.
tions, disciplinary letters and documentation showing the
performance improvement plans teacher’s unsatisfactory evalua-
(PIPs). For example, the teacher tion, disciplinary letters and PIPs,
was repeatedly reprimanded for: so it satisfied this burden, the
court held.
1. Abandoning her assigned
teaching duties to attend co-cur- The school stated a valid reason
ricular meetings with interested for firing the teacher, so she had
students. to show the proffered reason was
2. Leaving students unat- a pretext – a cover-up to justify
tended in the classroom. the real reason – for the alleged
3. Refusing to divulge infor- age bias. She couldn’t, so the
mation to the principal and a lawsuit was tossed out.
counselor pertaining to a stu-
dent’s safety, as mandated by Lynch v. Ridgeway Area School
law. District, No.1:15-cv-00218 (BJR),
2018 WL 529826 (W.D. Pa.
She was fired and was replaced 1/24/18).
by a teacher in her 20’s.

Bill aims to improve safety
in school crossing zones

In a bipartism effort, Georgia leg-
islators support “Edna’s Law,”
which was proposed after cross-
ing guard Edna Umeh was struck
and killed by a speeding motorist
going 70 mph in a school zone.
The proposed legislation would
expand the powers of school-

YouTube channel. They formed
an online friendship during
school hours. Then Calica twice
had sex with the girl in a parking
lot near the school during her
lunch period. He was given a
three year stayed prison sen-
tence.

Gangs In Schools suicide. In part, the student says, The suit claims the school’s fail-
“We’re expected to forgive the ure to supervise student use of
The above information was taken bullies because the authorities computers and internet access
from Indicators of school Crimes are sure they didn’t mean it. on school grounds amounted to
& Safety. Sometimes I wonder how many negligence.
kids it takes dying to make a dif-
Students were asked whether a ference.” Ice, Ice Baby: Winter slip
gang presence existed at school, and falls leads to
kids’ replies varied by race. The principal said the girl was $1.7 M Suit
disciplined for recording the
No good deed ... She was video in a classroom without per- In 2016, an Oregon student
disciplined for that!? mission. broke her back after slipping and
falling on a snowy, icy walkway.
A Tennessee high school student Girl meet sex predator on Now her parents have filed a
got two days of in-school sus- school-owned computer negligence suit seeking $1.7 mil-
pension after posting an anti-bul- lion in damages.
lying video following a North Carolina parents have filed
classmate’s suicide. The video suit against a district after a sex- At the time of the accident, the
has racked up more than ual predator befriended their 12- student was a 14-year old fresh-
900,000 views. year old while she was using a man. After she fell, she lost con-
school computer on its network. sciousness. When she came to,
In it, the student asks classmates she complained about having se-
to treat each other better – and The suit claims the student met vere back pain and loss of feeling
implores students not to resort to host Jeff Calica, 20, on his in her legs.

The suit claims the principal:

• Helped the girl up • Heart emojis

• Put her in a wheelchair • Videos showing off his guns
and alcohol
• Pushed her inside, and then
• Videos showing him smoking a
• Ordered her to stand up and “blunt”
move
• Videos of him naked in the
A doctor later diagnosed the girl shower
with a fracture to the L-1 verte-
brae. Students told investigators that
the teacher’s messages made
The suit claims that the princi- them feel very uncomfortable.
pal’s failure to seek immediate
medical treatment for the girl “ag- Pete’s phone was confiscated
gravated and exacerbated” her pursuant to a court order. About
injuries. two months later, while it was still
in custody, Pete remotely deleted
the evidence stored on it, police
said.

He was charged with transmis-
sion of harmful materials to a
minor and tampering with physi-
cal evidence.

Two students’ parents sued,
claiming the district’s response
after the incident amounted to
negligence.

Teacher’s Snapchat
videos put district

on the hot seat

In Florida, Orange County Public
Schools is facing a lawsuit in
connection with a middle school
teacher’s Snapchat videos.

The suit claims teacher Scott
Pete sent inappropriate
Snapchat messages to some
students, which contained: