Elmont leaders call for more police presence

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Elmont community leaders called for an increase in police presence after at least nine armed robberies of taxi drivers since late 2015, which police believe are part of a pattern.

At a press conference on the steps of the Nassau County Supreme Court building in Mineola on July 21, Parkhurst Civic Association President Carl Achille, a New York City police detective, cited numerous incidents involving cab drivers across the county who have been victims of robberies and assaults.

The most recent incident occurred on July 20 in Roosevelt. According to police, a cab driver for Freeport-based Taxi Taxi was shot in the back while picking up a rider on the Roosevelt-Freeport border. The driver, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries, is a friend of Achille’s.

As a result of a variety of crimes that have plagued small business owners and residents, Achille said he is starting the Long Island Civic Coalition Violent Crimes Task Force. The aim of the group is to be omnipresent in neighborhoods, and to quickly report suspicious behavior to either the task force or police.

“We’ve received numerous concerns and complaints about robberies, home break-ins, car break-ins and now a shooting that has affected us personally,” Achille said. “I’d like to call on all the civic leaders in the county to join us on the task force so we can get a better gauge of what’s going on in our communities so that we can get more people talking and assisting the police.”

The task force is also putting up a $500 reward, which will be matched by Adam Haber, a candidate for the 7th District State Senate seat, for the arrest and conviction of the assailant or assailants in the July 20 shooting incident.

“Nassau County police do a fine job,” Haber said. “They just can’t be everywhere, and the purpose of this is to raise awareness in the community. We need to do everything we possibly can to keep our communities safe.”

As a member of the NYPD, Achille has been the go-between for many Elmont resident regarding safety issues. As a result, he has seen an increase in concerns from neighbors about car break-ins and suspicious behavior. He also believes that the force is too spread out across the county, and can’t respond to every complaint.

“I would say most of the people in the civic associations and in our membership, in particular, they do feel unsafe,” Achille said, “and they do feel that they would like to see more police, and they would like to see people do more to prevent crimes in their community, especially violent crimes.”

Over the past two years, the Nassau County Police Department has hired nearly 700 new recruits, and swore in 183 officers, its largest graduating class in 20 years, last October.

“We invite the civic leader to meet with the police commissioner and learn how the county has been hiring new police officers over the past year and has more classes on the way,” said Brian Nevin, a spokesman for County Executive Ed Mangano.