HUDSON COUNTY — Some subscribers to the local Nixle emergency alert system got an unusual e-mail on the eve of Christmas Eve.
One resident reported getting this message:
Alert: RESIDENT ALERT, GYPSY ACTIVITY
Hi [Resident],
RESIDENT ALERT. Be careful about Gypsy activity. Be aware of strangers ringing your doorbell. Call police immediately upon encountering.
Contact Information:
Fairview Police Department
201-943-2100
info@fairviewpd.com
For full details, view this message on the web.
Sent by Fairview, New Jersey Police Department, 59 Anderson Ave, Fairview, NJ 07022
Clicking the link on the web only brings someone to the same information on a Nixle website.
Little other information could be found, except for a description on the North Bergen police website of certain kinds of scams conducted at houses, found at the webpage http://northbergenpolice.com/gypsy.htm. It says to beware of burglars posing as utility workers, package deliverers, or people looking for a lost pet. You can read about it here.
A nearly 20-year-old New York Times story explains:
AT the Living Hope Fellowship Church in Hasbrouck Heights some weeks ago, a group of French gypsies was addressing a meeting about the charismatic Christian movement, which is spreading among European gypsies. At the end of the slide presentation, the group’s leader looked around the crowded room and said: ‘I know that there are many gypsies in this part of the country, and I know why they are not here. They are afraid of the persecution that still goes on, even in the United States.’
There are thousands of gypsies in the state, but the vast majority carefully guard their identity…
The prejudice against gypsies, based upon the ancient stereotype of them as a nation of wandering con men, is not just in their imaginations. New Jersey statute 40:52-1K, enacted in 1917, reads, ‘The governing body may make, amend, repeal and enforce ordinances to license and regulate: roving bands of nomads, commonly called gypsies.’
But is the stereotype fair today? And what prompted the Fairview police warning? If you know, comment below. Updates will be posted.