Local officials discuss Valley Stream crime concerns

After Valley Streamers voiced their concerns about crime in the community, village and county officials recently met with Nassau County Police Department Acting Commissioner Thomas Krumpter to discuss ways to keep the area safe.

Nassau County Legislator John Ciotti helped organize the meeting at the request of Mayor Ed Fare and Trustee Dermond Thomas last month, and Village Clerk Bob Barra and Treasurer John Mastromarino were also in attendance. Fare said officials took advantage of the opportunity to express residents’ concerns directly to police officials responsible for controlling crime in the area.

Fare, who was elected mayor in March, said he first began hearing residents’ uncertainties when his United Community Party ticket walked the neighborhood during the campaign season. A few months later, when citizens stepped forward during public meetings with concerns about crime in the area, Fare said he and Thomas agreed that it was time to tell the police commissioner what the citizens were telling them.

“When you hear residents feel unsafe, something has to be done,” Fare said. “When we got the chance to sit down and speak with him, the commissioner explained that statistically, crime rates in the county and the community are low. But when residents say they are scared, you can throw statistics around all you want but they might not feel better.”

Valley Stream is an incorporated village without its own police force, Fare said, and is patrolled by the 5th Precinct of the Nassau County’s department. According to Deputy Inspector Robert Psoinas, eight cars from the precinct, which is headquartered in Elmont, patrol different parts of Valley Stream. Psoinas said unmarked cars and other officials may also be sent to the area for different investigations.

One recent investigation involved what department officials describe as “thefts from auto” in Valley Stream and surrounding locales. Fare said residents told him recent thefts at foreign car dealerships in Valley Stream made them feel less safe.

According to Nectaria Krokidis, a department intelligence analyst, there have been 64 thefts from auto this year — of those, 30 involved the larceny of tires and rims from vehicles, four of which were from car dealerships. 

Psoinas said the prevalence of this type of crime is a county problem that the department is dealing with and not unique to Valley Stream. But because the area the 5th Precinct covers closely borders New York City, police department officials say people in these locales may “see a little more of it.”

The addition of pricey devices inside of vehicles makes stealing from cars more appealing to criminals, Psoinas said. “We used to only leave pocket change in our cars, but that’s not the case anymore,” he said. “We’ve always seen thefts from vehicles, but now it is more rewarding for them because they may look to take expensive GPS systems, iPods and cell phones.”

After an investigation that led to the arrests of three individuals this year, Psoinas said law enforcement officials saw a decrease in the number of larcenies and thefts from autos in the area.

Fare said another type of crime Valley Streamers expressed their concerns about were street robberies, particularly those involving young people. According to Krokidis, 23 street robberies have been reported in the village this year. Those involving teenagers or children stealing lunch money or cell phones and other devices from one another in the area around Valley Stream Central High School and elsewhere, Fare said, are the kinds of crimes that may have went unreported in the past.

Ciotti, who is a liaison to the Nassau County Police Department for the Legislature, said there is always the potential for these kinds of robberies to happen against young people and the precinct may consider patrolling in different areas rather than sending more officers to the area. “I am a firm believer in the fact that police presence is a deterrent for crime in itself,” he said. “Perhaps we will see some shifting of that police presence in the Village of Valley Stream so there is a more heightened visibility.”

Fare said he now has direct phone communication with Krumpter as a result of the meeting. Thomas, who has a legal background, will continue to act as the village’s liaison to the 5th Precinct.

Fare said by keeping lines of communication open with law enforcement officials, the village government will be better able to answer the concerns of residents and be aware of what kinds of crimes are occurring in the area.

“We’re not at ‘Oh my God’ status yet, and we want to make sure we don’t get to that point,” Fare said. “Dealing with concerns about crime is an ongoing process. I’d like to think of it as getting a handle on it before it gets a handle on us.”