The Village of Williston Park board of trustees addressed a rash of burglaries in their neighborhood at recent meetings.
Residents and elected officials addressed a rash of burglaries in Williston Park last week, noting that more needs to be done in terms of enforcement.
At a village board meeting on Monday, Feb. 22, trustee William Carr’s monthly police report included two burglaries on Collins Avenue in January, and the arrest of a man from Brooklyn. Carr said the man was found to be connected to a burglary in nearby Mineola, as well as a January burglary on Lipton Lane in Williston Park, where he stole cash and jewelry from both properties.
“We haven’t had an explosion of burglaries in Williston Park before, but we’ve now had two on the same block, so we’re concerned,” Village of Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar said, who remarked that he has personally been burglarized twice in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
Ehrbar also said he has been in contact with Nassau County Police Department Third Precinct Inspector John Berry on the recent burglaries, who addressed neighboring Village of East Williston on burglaries this past November.
In an effort to spread community awareness, the Williston Park and Albertson Civic Associations held a forum with Nassau County Police on the recently burglaries on Wednesday, Feb. 24. Bob Mitchell, president of the Williston Park Civic Association and a former deputy precinct commander, helped facilitate the meeting.
Mitchell attended the village board meeting last week, as did former mayor and wife of Ehrbar, Doreen Ehrbar, who both spoke about the burglaries and what is being done to help prevent future incidents.
Mitchell took issue with there being three summonses issued in the monthly police report, and suggested that police in the neighborhood write more summons and stop people more often in order to deter criminal behavior such as burglaries. Ehrbar said he continues to communicate with Nassau County police regarding increased policing where needed.
“It’s a well known thing that if people are out there writing summons, they’re going to be stopping people, and their presence is going to have an effect on crime,” Mitchell said. “I don’t understand how there can be such a low number.”
Mayor Ehrbar pointed out that POP “Problem Oriented Policing” police officers have been reinstated in Nassau County, and that the village met with two and expect more to be added to the village area.
Doreen Ehrbar said that there are blocks in the village that do not have a block captain, and that they continue to ask for more to sign up.
“We need more block captains out there,” Doreen Ehrbar said, adding that most block captains for the neighborhood watch are senior citizens. “The problem is that when we say neighborhood watch, it’s really for you to watch your neighbor.”
Doreen Ehrbar urged residents to leave lights on and take other measures necessary to make their homes appear to be occupied when no one is home.
Village trustee Theresa Thomann said she believes that burglars are becoming more savvy, and that instances she is aware of are happening during the daytime.
“We have to as a village work together to take on this issue, and get wiser about these things,” Thomann said.
