Safety concerns continue to be at the forefront of local residents’ minds, as ongoing area burglaries have left them feeling unsafe and uneasy.
Carle Place has been plagued by regular car break-ins since June, with burglars entering vehicles and taking whatever they can find. The crimes escalated earlier this month when two homes were broken into. According to Nassau County police, a Wright Avenue residence was broken into on Dec. 1 at 1:30 p.m., followed by a Rockaway Avenue home the next day at 5:30 p.m.
The crimes have left the small, tight-knit community on edge as reports of break-ins and theft seem to become more common. Carle Place resident Kim Binsack’s car was broken into last week and burglars took off with her loose change. She said the incident was disconcerting, but not surprising.
“There’s been so many car break-ins in the neighborhood, I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened on my block,” the Earl Street resident said.
Binsack noted there was community frustration with the police’s response to the increase in crime, saying that many residents feel there is a lack of police presence or services directed toward the area.
“The police officer said it was the fourth call of the day in the area. He said they’re short staffed and there’s nothing they can do about it,” Binsack said. “The area is crying for help and no one’s looking out for us. It makes you feel very unsafe.”
Detective Vincent Garcia from the Nassau County Police Department said larcenies from autos have increased slightly in the Westbury and New Cassel area since September. However, the police arrested Marc Matarazzo, from Carle Place, on Oct. 23 on grand larceny charges, and Garcia said since then there has been a decrease.
At a recent Westbury village board meeting, Mayor Peter Cavallaro said the crime uptick just goes to prove that more enforcement is needed in the area. He noted that village residents spend $5 or $6 million a year for police services.
“From the village standpoint, it just underscores what we’ve been saying for a long time, that we need to be vigilant and aggressive about getting the police protection that we’re entitled to,” Cavallaro said. “We have one car assigned to us and a lot of time that’s pulled to New Cassel or the Roosevelt Field Mall.”
He noted that while the police response time is excellent when a situation does arise, the lack of visible police presence was hurting the community, as well as the county at large.
“We don’t have a lot of visible presence and that’s when you have these crimes occurring,” Cavallaro said. “It’s happening all over the county and they’re going to have to figure out a way to address these issues because it’s affecting the quality of life.”
In a recent interview with The Westbury Times, third precinct commanding officer John Berry said that the precinct has increased patrols in areas where there is a surge in crime.
“Those cases with larcenies from autos, a lot of times it’s a person just walking through neighborhoods looking through cars; not necessarily a targeted area,” Berry said. “But what we’ll do is get information out to police cars in those communities that have patterns in that area and we’ll direct them to increase their intensity of patrols during the times that incidents are occurring.”
John, a Carle Place resident who did not want his last name to be used, is a home insurance agent who deals with theft cases. He advises people to use common sense when protecting their homes and cars.
“Lock your doors and windows when you’re not home, don’t make it look like no one’s home,” John advised.
And that applies when people go away for the holidays and vacations. Have neighbors take in mail, newspapers and garbage cans, John advised, and put lights on a timer.
“People [might] put a flyer on your door and if it’s still there five days later, it looks like no one is home,” John said. “Have your neighbors take in your mail and newspapers so they don’t pile up.”
Alarm all windows and doors, not just ones on the first floor, John said. When thieves break in to a home, they’re usually going into bedrooms, looking for quick cash or jewelry that they can grab before cops arrive.
When it comes to vehicles, make sure not to leave valuables in the car and always lock the car doors.
“The biggest problems we are having is that people are leaving their vehicles unlocked,” Garcia said. “Most of these larcenies do not involve breaking into cars. Subjects are simply walking down streets and trying car doors.”
