In the wake of recent violence involving two rival motorcycle clubs that resulted in more than 70 arrests and one fatality in Plainview, local residents have said gang activity is a top concern. But although gangs do exist in the Farmingdale area, the problem is not extreme, said a police officer at a Feb. 26 Concerned Citizens Association of Farmingdale (CCAF) meeting.

"There is a gang problem," said Brian Alimena, a Problem Oriented Police (POP) officer in the 8th Precinct. "It's not huge. It's monitored. Every two months, we have a 'Gang Round Table' when information is shared between Nassau, Suffolk and New York City police.

"They're not running the streets," Alimena added. "And a lot of the fighting they're doing is with other gangs. Fortunately, the gangs have not combined. That would be a concern."

Alimena and Officer Thomas Murphy were guest speakers at the meeting. They discussed the importance of POP -- a 7-year-old program --and how they were working to stop other Farmingdale problems.

"A lot of times when something happens, a police officer responds, leaves the scene and heads out to the next call," Murphy said. "We're proactive police officers. We're making sure problems don't happen. We handle quality of life issues. We look outside the box."

Other than gang violence, Murphy identified graffiti, road safety, underage drinking and adults that procure alcohol for minors as major concerns his unit focuses on.

"We network to get info to cure non-criminal problems," said Murphy. "Unfortunately, some problems don't go away. Arrests are difficult with graffiti because people commit the act and quickly run away."

But while graffiti remains a problem, 23 sites have been cleaned up since May, Murphy said.

"We get kids that are on probation and have a 'Paint-Out,'" he said. "We get the (property) owner's permission."

POP officers have found some creative ways to find and stop stores from selling alcohol to minors. When officers locate underage people drinking in public locations, cops convince kids to tell them where they bought alcohol, sometimes in exchange for not ticketing the teen. Then, police have a teen enter a store attempting to purchase alcohol while wearing a microphone.

"We write summonses against the vendors," said Alimena. "And we give lectures to the parent company."

POP officers also give lectures to parents and stress that providing liquor to teens on the night of the prom is never a good idea.

"A lot of parents think that drinking on prom night is okay, it's a rite of passage," Alimena said. "But the law says they must be 21."

Another job of POP officers is to examine roads where numerous accidents occur, Murphy said. The unit found that a lot of accidents were occurring on Quaker Meeting House Road. POP decided to investigate.

"We looked at fatal accidents on Quaker Meeting House Road," Murphy said. "Nobody really looked at the problem. We did an 18-month study. We determined it not to be a driver problem, but a road problem."

Although POP examines many problems in Farmingdale, they can't be everywhere and see everything, said Murphy.

"You are our eyes and ears," he told all in attendance at Woodward Parkway Elementary School. "Don't hesitate to contact us."

Dialing 911 for non-emergency situations is okay, said Murphy. He encouraged residents to call 911 if they want to report quality of life issues. CCAF President Mike Grello said he has called 911 so many times for non-emergencies that he knows the dispatchers.

"I think that most people think you can only call 911 for emergencies," said Grello. "It's not the case."

"I think we ought to take out an ad about that," quipped Murphy.

Grello said POP officer work was "instrumental" in making the community better. But he shuddered at the fact that the future of POP is unclear. With Nassau County in a fiscal crisis, POP has been identified as one place where cuts could take place. POP has survived the first round of budget cuts, but both officers said they were unsure if the program could exist months from now.