Police address public safety at civic meeting

Nassau County Legislator Dave Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, recently hosted a meeting to address public safety in the Bellmore-Merrick area, at which officers of the 1st and 7th precincts, the Problem Oriented Police Unit and the Auxiliary Police spoke to residents about recent crime in the community –– and how to better protect themselves.

About 30 people attended the meeting at the Merrick Road Golf Course Clubhouse, including representatives from the North Merrick Community Association, the South Merrick Community Civic Association, the North Bellmore Civic Association and the Bellmore Preservation Group.

Denenberg said the crime rate in the 19th District has continued to decrease, but noted that the total number of Nassau County police officers has decreased over the years. "The Nassau County Police Department numbers are much lower than they've been certainly over the past 20 years,” he said.

In 2004, the department head count fell below 2,500, said Denenberg, but then rose to more than 2,700 in the following years. Recently, the head count dropped below 2,400. “That's very, very low numbers for the police,” he said.

But Denenberg and police representatives said that increased technology now available to the police, such as new intelligence systems in the patrol cars, has enabled officers to do more with less. “Overall, intelligence gathering has allowed us to put the resources where we need them,” said Inspector Mary Blanthorn, the 7th Precinct’s commanding officer.

While the crime rate has decreased, police officers noted that there has been a “spike” in residential burglaries, most notably three burglaries on the night of Nov. 12 in south Merrick, when homes on Clubhouse Road, Arbor Lane and Sunrise Highway were burglarized between 7 and 9 p.m. Blanthorn said that police have no leads and no new information on those burglaries, and that the suspects must have used gloves since no fingerprints were found.