By Alex Napoliello and Stephen Stirling | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on October 13, 2016 at 7:03 AM, updated October 14, 2016 at 2:52 PM
In the fall of 2013, shoppers at the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus fled in terror as a man with a rifle stalked the halls. Police officers, going through each store one by one, rescued dozens of people with no injuries.
But what if those in the mall could have given police an eye into the madness? What if they could have sent cell phone photos and videos, revealing their location and helping track the gunman’s whereabouts?
That life-saving technology exists. And for more than a decade, every person in New Jersey with a phone has paid a tax on their monthly bill to make it happen, handing over a whopping $1.37 billion to Trenton.
