Flower Hill trustees are questioning the effectiveness of the village’s private security patrol, which was enacted early this year in response to a rise in crime in early December 2023.
Trustee Mary Jo Collins raised concerns about measuring the patrol’s effectiveness.
“I think it’s going to be very hard to say with a high degree of certainty that it has deterred crime,” Collins said. “I think when we made the decision, we had a lot of residents here, and they were very vocal. I feel that, at the time, we did the right thing, given the circumstances, and I have faith in the Nassau County Police Department. I don’t think we should continue this based on emotion.”
During the holidays, the village saw an increase in car break-ins and ‘porch pirates’ stealing packages from the fronts of homes.
In response to resident concerns, the village board hired a private security company to patrol the streets at night. Trustee AJ Smith was tasked with creating a security control committee comprised of concerned residents.
Smith’s security patrol committee is meeting this month to go over the monthly reports from the security patrol and get feedback about the patrol’s effectiveness. Committee members were tasked with talking to residents about the patrol to report back to the board of trustees.
The board will then review crime statistics from the past two years and hear reports from the committee.
The village’s taxes increased by 14.1% this fiscal year, partly due to the cost of its private security patrol. The added costs for the patrol increased the village’s code enforcement expenses by 62%.
“We are stewards of the finances for the village. If the board feels that the expenditure for this particular thing isn’t warranted and we aren’t getting true value out of it, then that’s a point we should make,” Deputy Mayor Frank Genese said. “Its one car driving around the village, from day one I didn’t think it would have an impact, and the police commissioner said its not going to do a thing.”
Before deciding anything, Mayor Randall Rosenbaum said the village needs to host a public meeting to invite residents to voice their opinions.
“I think we publicize a public meeting, we will invite the public to come and speak, either for or against, and we will hear what the residents have to say,” Rosenbaum said. “In the air of transparency, I want to hold a public meeting on this. To vote on this without getting public opinion is a failure of transparency.”
Rosenbaum said he would not be willing to vote until the end of the holiday season.
Collins disagreed with Rosenbaum.
“I don’t think we are failing to get public opinion. I think that’s mischaracterizing it,” she said.
Collins said the safety patrol committee is made up of residents who talk to other residents about the patrol. Therefore, the committee will report to the board on community input.
“I’m concerned that the committee is primarily made up of people who wanted this in the first place, so I’m not sure the committee is going to be representative of people on both sides of the issue,” Smith said.
