The Mineola Village Board of Trustees discussed its five-point plan on public safety last Wednesday night and decided collectively that three of the points in the plan were not feasible. The board though will move forward with two of the plan's initiatives - forming a neighborhood watch program and a lobbying effort to attempt to secure additional police coverage from the county.
Village trustees Linda Fairgrieve and Paul Cusato proposed the plan last month following the defeat of the referendum for Mineola to create its own police force. The plan was unanimously adopted by the board of trustees, and the mayor assigned each trustee and himself one of the points to research and make a report to the board.
The trustees made their reports last Wednesday and the five-point plan turned into a two-point plan since it was determined that three of the points were not feasible.
One of the points that was deemed to be unfeasible was hiring a property crimes investigator. This initiative was researched by Trustee John DaVanzo, who reported to the board that the investigation of property crimes fell under the jurisdiction of the Nassau County Police Department. In addition, it was noted that property crimes investigator is not a civil service title available to the village and therefore, the village could not establish the position.
Another one of the points that was not feasible was forming a homelessness advisory committee. Fairgrieve researched the possibility and visualized forming the committee as a subcommittee of the public safety committee. The homelessness advisory committee would act as a liaison between the county and the village board regarding the homeless.
It was determined that the village board should let the qualified persons from the county department of social services help the homeless. The village board, however, would support organizations that offer help to the homeless.
Resident Dennis Walsh believes that the formation of a homelessness advisory committee is nothing more than a political stunt, and he suggested that if people really wanted to help the homeless, they could give a donation to such organizations as the Interfaith Nutrition Network, which gives help to the homeless. It was mentioned that INN director Jean Kelly would be invited to a village meeting to educate the board and the public on homelessness and what can be done to help.
Another point of the plan that was determined not to be feasible was the formation of a public safety committee. Such a committee would be designed to listen to residents concerns about public safety and bring those concerns to the police department. Mayor Jack M. Martins, who researched this initiative of the plan, determined that it was the responsibility of the village board to listen to concerns from residents regarding public safety and bring them to the police department. The mayor already meets monthly with Third Precinct Commanding Officer, Inspector Robert Turk.
With three points of the five-point plan determined to be unfeasibile or initiatives that are already taking place, the board voted unanimously to focus on a neighborhood watch program and a lobbying effort to ask the county for more police coverage.
Cusato took the initiative on the neighborhood watch program and met with police department personnel to go about creating a watch program. Cusato said he envisioned the creation of the program in four phases. The first phase would be to encourage participation from residents. Cusato said he made a list of 186 residents he would be sending letters to asking for their interest in the program.
After breaking the village down into 13 sectors, Cusato said he would be asking for a block captain for each sector. Block captains would receive training from the county police department on how to conduct a neighborhood watch program and then would pass that training off to other residents who are involved in the program.
The basis of a neighborhood watch program would be for residents to keep their eyes out for any suspicious activities or crimes and to call 911. It would not involve patrolling neighborhoods but would simply be a way for residents to be conscious of their neighbors and blocks. This may already be going on in some of Mineola's neighborhoods but the board endorsed the formation of a neighborhood watch program.
The other initiative the board endorsed was a lobbying effort to ask the county for more police coverage. Trustee Larry Werther, who led this initiative, said the village residents would organize by various communication means to ask the county for more police coverage. Werther also mentioned the formation of a website to organize residents.
Fairgrieve suggested lobbying the county legislature to conduct a police sector study to re-evaluate its current sector system, the system that has determined three patrol cars are adequate coverage for Mineola.
Such a study was provided for in the county budget but turned down by the county legislature.
Some residents feel that lobbying the county for more police coverage would be a futile exercise. According to John Curry, who headed the Mineola Police Task Force commissioned to study whether the village should form its own police force, lobbying efforts to give the village more police coverage from the county had been ongoing.
Resident Sal Cataldo raised a point that the public's rejection of the Mineola police department proposal has left the village with no bargaining power to secure additional police coverage.
While the board was divided on the issue of a Mineola police department, it is united as it goes forward with the initiatives of forming a neighborhood watch and lobbying for additional police coverage from the county.
