The Nassau County Police Department’s creation of a task force to investigate a sharp rise in the number of burglaries on the North Shore is a positive step, village officials and a civic leader said.
Along with the return of the popular problem-oriented police officers, it’s a welcome change to tackle a problem that has worried residents in recent months, four leaders said.
“Anything that the police are able to do to help make our communities more safe and help our residents feel more safe is a plus,” Village of East Williston Mayor David Tanner said.
But some officials say more could be done to provide effective policing in an area as large as the North Shore’s Third Precinct, which stretches from Manorhaven to East Meadow.
Some communities are making their own efforts bolster security and prevent crime, such as private patrols and Neighborhood Watch programs, while continuing to work with the police.
“We’re trying to come up with these programs that complement the police coverage that we get and work with the police to make this the safest community on Long Island,” said Village of East Hills Deputy Mayor Manny Zuckerman, who advises the village’s recently reactivated Security Commission.
The Nassau County Police Department formed a Burglary Pattern Team of four detectives and a detective sergeant in mid-January to investigate organized burglary rings, said Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun, commanding officer of the Public Information Office.
The move came in response to a 28-percent increase in residential burglaries in the first two months of this year over the same period in 2015.
As of March 9, Nassau County saw 172 reported residential burglaries, compared to 134 last year, LeBrun said.
The Burglary Pattern Team has reduced the increase from 28 to 23 percent as of March 21, he said: “We’re already making progress.”
The force has so far solved four of this year’s burglary patterns consisting of five to nine burglaries each, LeBrun said.
The team’s work led to the arrest this week of two Bronx men who robbed four cell phone stores in Hicksville and Seaford last year, and a South Farmingdale man’s arrest last week for four burglaries of nail salons there dating back to September 2015.
Last month police arrested Mamuka Bokuchava, a 31-year-old Brooklyn man allegedly connected to 17 burglaries in Nassau County, including eight in Port Washington, two each in East Williston and Williston Park and one each in Mineola, New Hyde Park and Manhasset.
Village of Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar called the task force “a step in the right direction.”
He and other local leaders said any additional police effort to tackle crime is welcome, especially after the strings of burglaries in the area concerned residents.
“I guess they’ve had enough time to observe that it’s systematic, that the problem is systematic, which is why Nassau County P.D. has escalated it,” Tanner said.
Richard Bentley, president of the Council of Greater Manhasset Civic Associations, said the dedicated force is “long overdue” and will likely better communication between police and communities the crimes have affected.
Residents have previously gone months without learning whether a nearby burglary has been solved, he said, and the burglary team could help clarify such questions.
“(T)he creation of a task force for this specific purpose will now give us specific individuals that we’ll be able to (follow up) with,” Bentley said.
Some communities are keeping up local efforts to increase security and prevent crime.
A private security officer has patrolled East Williston since a spate of burglaries there in the fall, Tanner said.
It gives residents an extra level of comfort and “visibility,” he said: “Every little bit helps.”
Led by former Mayor Doreen Ehrbar, Paul Ehrbar’s wife, Williston Park’s Neighborhood Watch is trying to recruit more block captains to monitor neighborhoods.
Manhasset residents have an informal Neighborhood Watch, Bentley said. They share information about crimes or suspicious activity on Facebook.
“The greatest asset is that individual being able to be a good witness and provide us accurate details of any type of crimes or suspicious persons,” LeBrun said. “That often comes from Neighborhood Watch or people being able to be very astute to their surroundings.”
While burglaries fell by more than three-quarters in East Hills last year, Zuckerman said, the Security Commission it resurrected following two violent robberies is evaluating more extensive measures.
The village already has private security patrols, he said, and the committee is proposing to install surveillance cameras and additional lighting on dark streets. Other possibilities include safety kits and village decals for residents’ cars.
East Hills aims to work in concert with police to protect residents’ safety and welfare, Zuckerman said. For example, surveillance footage would not be actively monitored, he said, but would be given to police to help an investigation.
“We want to come as close to zero (crime) as possible,” Zuckerman said. “It’s important that we do things, but that we do not conflict with the police.”
Tanner and Ehrbar said they think the return of four problem-oriented police, or POP, officers will provide another layer of protection in the Third Precinct.
The police department reinstated the popular program last year after budgetary constraints suspended it in 2014.
Along with the Burglary Pattern Team, the POP cops play an on-the-ground role in investigating and suppressing burglaries, LeBrun said.
“(T)hey’ll be detailed to specific areas to get an understanding of what’s going on here and provide more eyes and ears and information going both ways,” Ehrbar said.
The Third Precinct’s North and South Subdivisions each have two POP officers, police have said.
While Bentley praised the POP officers’ return, he said it will prove difficult for two officers to cover the whole North Subdivision, the former Sixth Precinct that merged with the Third in 2012 as a cost-saving move.
Beyond the task force, opening the precinct would provide better overall police coverage for the North Subdivision, Bentley and Zuckerman said.
“Two officers just don’t cut it,” Bentley said. “As good as those two officers are and as dedicated as they are, it’s physically impossible. But it’s a start.”
LeBrun said reopening the precinct would not create any resources to stop burglaries beyond what already exists.
There would still be 177 daily patrols county-wide, he said, a number that has not changed since before the merger.
“We have the same number of police officers out there every day no matter if you have five police precincts or eight,” he said.
LeBrun also said major crimes have decreased overall since the merger and crime has dropped 25 percent countywide since 2009.
