Concerns over a robbery and burglary that occurred in East Hills during the Holiday season has caused the village to reconstitute its Village Security Commission.
The announcement was made by Mayor Michael R. Koblenz at a recent public meeting.
After a burglary and a robbery occurred in East Hills during the holiday season in December, Mayor Koblenz acted immediately, and at a village-wide meeting held within a week of the second incidence, announced he would reconstitute the Village Security Commission.
“We are fortunate that such fine members of our community are willing to serve to address this all-important task,” Koblenz said. “Reducing crime is our number one objective.”
The village, officials said, has one of the lowest crime rates on the North Shore of Long Island, but is resolute in making even greater inroads.
“Any crime is too much” added Manny Zuckerman, deputy mayor and supervising trustee over the commission. “We need to consider all means to make our families even safer” said Trustee Clara Pomerantz.
The commission, village officials added, immediately went to work and finalized a new village sticker to be used to identify residents’ cars and gain entrance into the Park At East Hills.
At the Jan. 11 meeting, it was decided that a private police force should be taken off the table because of costs and a volunteer neighborhood watch patrol was also not deemed viable. Cameras at the entrances and lighting remained two important topics of discussion. The commission resumes its work at a Feb. 8 meeting.
“While we wish we could eliminate it, realistically, that may not be feasible,” Koblenz said, speaking of crime in general. “Putting safety in our neighborhood in perspective, I think we can all be proud of our low record of crimes in the past. Although any crime is too much at any time.”
“Our security program which has now been effective for over 23 years, coupled with the Nassau County Police, and even signage at the entrances of all our entrances has proved to be an effective deterrence, and yet, again, never effective enough,” the mayor concluded. “Our rate of burglaries had been extremely low. Almost all of the burglaries involve homes where alarms were not on, doors were not locked, windows were open, or the houses had no alarm whatsoever. But we can never be satisfied where any crime exists. We can always be better, we can always do more.”
