AVALON – The Borough Council will be asking Gov. Phil Murphy to make changes in the law and in policy directives that it believes have hampered the response of police to illegal juvenile behavior.

Police Chief Jeffrey Christopher was charged by the council with drafting a letter to the governor and other state officials.

The issue came up for discussion at the council’s Aug. 14 work session in response to a copy of a letter to Murphy from Beach Haven. That community is seeking support from other Shore towns in pushing for changes in how police can interact with illegal and disruptive actions by large groups of young people. The Beach Haven letter is requesting more local autonomy in dealing with rowdy juvenile behavior.

Christopher said that Avalon has been facing many of the same problems as Beach Haven. He said problems began with directives from the state attorney general in 2019 and subsequent statutes in 2020 that he says made dealing with juveniles more difficult, leaving police in many cases with few tools to use to curb behavior that is often illegal, including underage drinking and marijuana use.

The council appeared open to both supporting the Beach Haven letter to state officials and to sending a letter from Avalon making a similar request for more local police autonomy in dealing with groups of young people that sometimes number in the hundreds.

Christopher will bring a draft of a letter back to the council for approval.

Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.