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Fair Valley Stream Civilian Patrol seeks new members
Force has aged and shrunk since forming 24 years ago
Fred Jung drove carefully down Merrick Road in Valley Stream, cruising just below the speed limit. His eyes scanned the road, sidewalks, houses and parking lots he passed, his routine during the two hours he spends each Thursday night on duty for the Valley Stream Civilian Patrol.
Traffic became thicker, then stopped. “It’s not unusual for me to hit traffic in this area, but this is just about as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” he said.
Inching forward, he soon discovered the cause: Two men stood near two cars stopped in the right lane, examining damage from a rear-end collision.
Jung didn’t reach for his radio or cell phone, deciding not to report the crash to police. “It was a very small collision, it didn’t seem as there were any injuries and the two drivers were communicating safely, so there wasn’t anything to report,” he said. “Besides, for all I know those two may not want the police involved. They would rather handle their business themselves.”
Jung joined the Civilian Patrol, which was founded in 1990, when he moved to Valley Stream a little over a decade ago. He wanted to get involved in his new community, he said.
He strives to be unobtrusive when on patrol, he said. He drives 10 mph on side streets so he can focus on the road and what’s going on to the left and right. He is careful to avoid holding up traffic on major roadways like Rockaway Avenue and Merrick Road. He pulls to the side of quieter streets to allow traffic to pass.
While most nights go without incident, Jung occasionally reports things to police and to the Civilian Patrol’s dispatcher, Dorothy Waltz. Procedure dictates that he attempt to stay within sight of an incident while he waits for police to arrive.
The patrol has guidelines of its own. “We are not a law enforcement organization,” Jung was quick to point out. “We have no power to arrest, write tickets or anything like that. We also can’t break the law ourselves when looking into something, so we cannot encroach on private property without the owner’s permission, and we cannot break traffic laws while on patrol.”
