Prosecutor: 'Red Raider' not a slur on Paulsboro

Jim Walsh | The Courier-Post

PAULSBORO – When investigators announced the results of Operation Red Raider, the months-long drug probe sounded like a complete success.

The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday it had smashed an alleged drug ring here, arrested 21 people and seized guns, cash and narcotics.

But on Friday, county Prosecutor Charles Fiore acknowledged the Red Raider name, used by the mascot and sports teams at Paulsboro High School, "unfortunately … has resulted in several residents being offended."

“If this name offended anyone, I would like to express my deepest apologies on behalf of myself and the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office,” Fiore said in a statement on his office’s Facebook page.

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In fact, many residents were seeing red over the use of Red Raider, Mayor Gary Stevenson Sr. said in his own Facebook post.

“I have seen, heard, been phone called, been texted, emailed … the feedback in regards to the recent ‘Drug & Weapons’ raid conducted in our town, especially the naming,” he said.

Stevenson expressed gratitude for the investigation, calling it “a huge positive step to making our streets safer.”

“Of course, what seems to be getting the most attention is what the raid was called,” he continued in a post directed to "all the residents of Paulsboro and proud 'Red Raiders.'"

Fiore said the name “was not intended to be a negative reflection on the fine residents of Paulsboro nor the pride in Paulsboro High School and the mascot known as Red Raider.”

Instead, he said, Red Raider was intended to represent “the pride of Paulsboro” and “a winning reputation,” among other attributes.

“The operation from its inception was intended for the true Red Raiders who take pride in a great town that has so much to offer,” the prosecutor said.

Stevenson noted the borough's elected leaders and School Superintendent Laurie Bandlow met with Fiore, Paulsboro Police Chief Gary Kille "and "a few other county officials to address the naming and discuss the raid.”

“They were hoping to capitalize on the ‘positives’ of using the name and did not foresee it being viewed in a negative light,” the mayor said. “They apologized.”

Operation Red Raider, which began in the fall of 2017, targeted an alleged drug ring operating in the area of Spruce and Adams streets in Paulsboro, Most of those arrested were taken into custody during raids in the borough Monday.

When it made the probe public, the prosecutor's office called Operation Red Raider "a highly productive law enforcement partnership spanning multiple municipalities, counties and states."

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Jim Walsh: @jimwalsh_cp; 856-486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com