The Levittown Property Owners Association met on Oct. 14, with Inspector George J. Gudmundsen, commanding officer of the 8th Precinct, Levittown, as guest speaker. The inspector has been with the Nassau County Police Department for 30 years, is in his second stint at the 8th Precinct since April of this year (assigned there also in 1997), and has worked at five other county precincts. He was accompanied by Officer Rob Smith, who grew up in Levittown, and has been an officer in Nassau County and New York City for 18 years.

Gudmundsen began by saying, "The department used to be more insular, but now they try to reach out to residents of communities they serve: residents are consumers of police services." As for numbers, they now have a force of 3,500, from 2,700 and 3,100. The 8th Precinct has 17 posts, with sometimes 18 cars, with two road supervisors.

The department is able to operate more efficiently by using a management system called NASSTAT (Nassau County Statistics), a system using the concept of tracking or locating crime areas or sites electronically to create a map to see where major crimes occur, enabling them to move resources to where problems are, the inspector said. He added that NASSTAT has shown us there are seven major crime categories or trends, but that five of these are down (such as burglaries and break-ins). However, he said that recently there is an increase in theft of Nissan headlights, with six in the 8th Precinct in July, one in August. The inside module goes for $600 but $2,300 damages result from these thefts. Using computers, they try to find Nissan owners and ask them to park on driveways and not on streets.

Gudmundsen stated that gangs are not a problem in Levittown although they are in other county precincts, but "they won't get a foothold in Levittown." He recently met with Gary Hudes and Dennis Dunne to plan for preventing negative activities at Halloween by using additional staffing.

To get better use of police services, Gudmundsen advised us to "Call 911 - don't call the precinct. At the precinct one officer has six to seven lines, but in Hicksville there is a bank of operators who answer 911 calls. If you don't wish to speak to a policeman, tell them; an officer will still come, but use 911 for calls. If you don't feel you are getting adequate service, call to speak to a desk officer or sergeant - or write me a letter," he said.

The inspector distributed a bulletin on the problem of identity theft which he said was "the fastest growing crime in the US." It is especially important not to leave ID mail in the box with documents that might have Social Security, credit card, insurance or bank information, he added, but this type of information should be destroyed.

Joe Towell asked who gets the money when people get ticketed for illegal parking. Gudmundsen replied, "The town, if a town law is broken, or the state, if a state law." He added that commercial vehicles can't park more than one hour in residential areas; cops ticket only in the street, the town building department if violations occur on private property.

President Morrow asked if we need to complain (about ignored stop signs, speeding, etc.), and Gudmundsen said, "Most tickets are written and police service is given in response to complaints." President Morrow also asked about home alarm systems and police response. The inspector said two cars are sent, but that 99 percent of these are false. A false alarm has a $50 fine from the county and must be paid within 30 days.

Inspector Gudmundsen invited residents of the entire precinct to attend another meeting he would hold in the Levittown Library meeting room on Oct. 23 to describe the work of the police services, also information on proper child car seat installation, the crime stoppers program (for which people are given awards), and civilian police department instruction. This is a 15-week session given by police academy instructors on how police perform their duties and work. Officer Smith would take names and send letters to those interested.

Inspector Gudmundsen closed by saying, "We try to do the best we can, with some good days, some bad, but call 911, they'll come down." He added that they "reach out to businesses and schools, and need help from moms and dads because policemen have a lot of things to do."

After the officers left members discussed issues still on their minds, including the North Village Green. Someone observed a water main was installed there two weeks ago. We voted to write Councilman Hudes requesting information on parking variances given to the two schools at the Green, and what the regulations are for outsiders (non-residents) use of the swimming pools. Andy Booth made a motion, seconded by George Gibson, to ask the town to install more garbage cans by bus stops on Hempstead Turnpike. We were asked to write the school board requesting that children's presentations be scheduled at other times rather than at the beginning of general school board meetings as this causes extensive delays.

The next LPOA meeting will be on Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Levittown Library Community Meeting Room.