Nassau County police will take additional measures to stem the continuing rise of burglaries in East Williston, a police officer told residents Monday.
Since the beginning of this year, the village has experienced twice as many burglaries as it did over the entirety of 2015, Problem-Oriented Police officer Todd Atkin said at Monday’s Village Board meeting.
The latest incident occurred last Friday, May 6, when robbers broke into a house on Donald Street between Congress Avenue and Feather Lane.
Atkin said another community police officer will likely join the two patrolling the South Subdivision in an expansion of the Nassau County Police Department’s popular Problem-Oriented Police, or POP, program after its return in November.
The program currently has four officers assigned to the Third Precinct, with two patrolling the South Subdivision that includes Mineola, Williston Park, East Williston, New Hyde Park and Floral Park.
The police will also hold a community forum to address the burglaries, Atkin said. The date and location of the forum have yet to be determined.
Offering his emphatic support, East Williston Mayor David Tanner said he felt “positive, positive, positive” about the additional steps taken by the police.
“The more effort we can get from the cops, the better,” he said.
Monday’s announcements will bolster the police response in East Williston, where the rise in burglaries has been particularly pronounced.
Earlier this year, the Nassau County Police Department formed the Burglary Pattern Team, a task force comprised of four detectives and one detective sergeant.
The decision resulted from a countywide 28-percent increase in residential burglaries in the first two months of this year over the same period in 2015. That increase was reduced to 23 percent by mid-March, police have said.
The county saw 101 residential and commercial burglaries in April, a 20-percent increase over April 2015’s 84 burglaries, police spokesman Detective Lt. Richard LeBrun said.
While POP officers focus on quality-of-life crimes like graffiti and speeding, such offenses correlate with the likelihood of burglaries, Atkin said.
By preventing quality-of-life crimes, he added, “POP signals to people who don’t care about the neighborhood that they can’t have at it.”
Harold Cronk, a 51-year East Williston resident, said he shared Tanner’s and Atkin’s enthusiasm for the anticipated POP expansion.
“POP gives residents another place to call besides 911,” he said.
Some residents, though, expressed little concern for the rise in burglaries.
“I haven’t been touched by it,” said Margaret Casella, the wife of village Trustee Anthony Casella. “I feel very safe because I’m aware,” she added, noting the importance of police-community relations.
Atkin echoed Casella’s sentiment in his remarks, describing the importance of informed residents who know how to identify unusual activity and share information with the police.
“The best way to stop these crimes is to be a good neighbor,” Atkin said.
