The Nassau County police are investigating potential suspects in the car break-ins on June 1 in East Williston, they said at the village Board of Trustees meeting on Monday.
A Nassau County police officer who patrols the area and was identified as Officer Adamski said she is doing everything she can to protect it. “Right now there’s a pattern. We do have potential suspects, and a car involved, but again, it could be someone different,” she said.
She advised community members to stay vigilant and to call 911 when there is suspicious activity.
Three cars’ windows were smashed, and one car was left unlocked. The culprit or culprits stole some personal items, electronics and clothing, a police spokesman said.
A Nassau County officer identified as Lt. Erdmann advised people to make sure no valuables are left in vehicles overnight and to lock their doors. “People leave their cellphones, pocketbooks, wallets, people go shopping and forget to take things in with them. People do leave a lot of stuff in cars. Try to take these things in with you so there’s nothing for them to get,” he said.
“One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. They’re looking for anything because they’re going to resell it or use it,” said Adamski. “We’ll take care of it. We’re trying to catch him and we patrolled last night all around this area looking and making sure nothing looks suspicious, any cars that don’t belong.”
Erdmann said, “A lot of times it’s the same people that do it over and over again that move to different areas. We do have at least two people of interest that they’re looking into.”
Stephan Leccese, a resident whose car was broken into but who had nothing stolen, asked the police to provide more patrols during the early hours of the morning. “I could only sort of ask that whatever frequency exists in this period when there’s a heightened sense of when these activities are going on, that during that time we could increase patrols to at least provide some kind of insurance that someone doesn’t wander around for two hours and have no fear that someone is going to come get them,” he said.
“I think increasing the patrol would make all residents feel more comfortable, and at least be adding some kind of more preventable measure,” he said.
Another topic of discussion at the meeting was the possible expansion of the Tzu Chi Foundation, located at 60 East Williston Ave. According to resident Raffaela Dunne, members of the foundation have been knocking on doors of residents along Letham Lane, asking to buy their homes.
One East Williston resident, Mary Anna Calamia, said that representatives from the foundation are knocking at her home and taking pictures of her house. “I find it very offensive that they come knocking on everybody’s door, three or four of them, and offering to purchase your house, name your price, you can sell it to nobody but me, 7 in the morning taking pictures of the cul de sac and all of our homes; that is very, very disturbing to have that attitude.”
“They’re attitude is, ‘this is our property and we can do what we want with it. We have the money to do whatever we want,’” said Calamia.
Village Attorney Jeffrey L. Blinkoff said that there are requirements for knocking on doors within the village. “Solicitors in the village must be registered. There’s a license that’s required,” he said.
Mayor David E. Tanner advised residents to print out all emails received from the foundation and to submit them to the village clerk to ensure that they will be recorded.
The proposed fence around the North Side School was also discussed at the meeting.
East Williston resident Matt Cuomo said he was concerned with the zoning issue regarding the fence, and the village’s input and communication with the school district when deciding if the fence should be installed, in addition to its perimeter, height and footprint.
“That’s our concern. They’re laboring under the conception that they don’t have to talk to you about what they’re going to put up because they’re not subject to your zoning,” said Cuomo. “Sometimes, if you want to be heard you have to speak up.”
At the Board of Education meeting on June 6, the district said it would work with the East Williston village board on the fence based on village code.
According to Mayor David E. Tanner, the village board has not been contacted about the fence since June 6. “… The village would welcome control over the project,” he said.
Gretchen Keller can be reached at gretchenkellerr@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @gretchenkellerr.
