Village of Lake Success residents on Monday asked the board of trustees to increase security throughout the village in response to a series of burglaries within the community.
“One small step can make one crazy person go away from our village,” Lake Success resident Peter Chang said at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting.
Chang, who was accompanied by two of his neighbors, said multiple robberies have taken place in the village and asked what the board was doing to prevent any additional incidents.
But Village of Lake Success Mayor Ronald Cooper said the burglaries were not the fault of the village, but homeowners.
“The pattern has been the same,” Cooper said. “The person leaves the house and doesn’t turn the alarm on.”
Village of Lake Success Police Chief Joseph Gardella said in one instance the burglar made an attempt to get in the house through three different windows.
“If that person had an alarm we would have been notified after the first attempt,” Gardella said in an interview.
Two similar incidents have occurred since the beginning of the year, he said.
“Hopefully these are just random instances,” Gardella said. “Time will tell on that.”
Cooper said the majority of the robberies have been occurring in a part of the community with a large Korean-American population.
He asked Chang, who is a Korean-American, if a Korean interpreter could work with the police department to write a letter instructing residents of ways to keep their homes secured. Chang agreed to work with the police department on the letter.
Chang also suggested having signs posted throughout the village saying “Patrolled by police.”
“This is not just what the Korean-American community wants,” Chang said. “This is what every resident wants.”
Deputy Mayor Stephen Lam said signs would not give homeowners the same security as a home alarm system.
“If a robber sees my house has an alarm and your’s doesn’t, which one do you think they’re going to rob,” Lam said.
Another suggestion by Chang was to place “dummy cameras” throughout the village.
Village attorney Howard Boris said the “dummy cameras” could give residents a “false sense of security.”
In other developments:
• The board of trustees voted 7-1 to contribute $1,500 to the Gold Coast Arts Center. Trustee David Milner was the lone no-vote, saying he did not support funding the center.
• The board of trustees unanimously voted to approve a bond resolution for $125,000 to go to the purchase of three new police vehicles. The police department also agreed to give an SUV to the village’s Department of Public Works.
•The board of trustees unanimously voted to approve Village Administrator Patrick Farrell to apply for a Nassau County grant to go to the enhancement of street lighting.
