Some crimes on the rise in Rockville Centre?

Though the number of incidents involving firearms in Rockville Centre has increased in the past year, Police Commissioner Charles Gennario does not see it as a trend.

According to research conducted by the Herald and confirmed by the commissioner, in 2011 there were six incidents in the village that involved guns, while thus far this year there have already been seven incidents. Since April there have been two robberies at gunpoint, a stray bullet pierced the window of a Hempstead Avenue home, a man committed suicide with a gun and another man was shot in the leg.

“If we’re talking about one more incident, that’s not a real rise,” Gennario said. “We have to wait to see how 2012 flushes out. But between six and eight incidents with a firearm is not what I, as a police commissioner, would consider alarming.”

Mayor Francis Murray declined to comment.

Statistics for the last decade, Gennario explained, would likely show that the number of gun-related incidents has remained steady despite the fact that there is a rising trend in gun violence throughout Nassau County and across the nation.

Gennario listed four elements that he said are linked to the county’s increase in gun violence: the ailing economy, an increase in gang activity, widespread prescription drug abuse and cuts in the Nassau County Police Department.

While the Rockville Centre Police Department has not seen any reduction in its ranks, Gennario said that the village is affected by what happens to the NCPD. Cuts in the NCPD gang-prevention units and the closing of local precincts will affect RVCPD operations, he said.

Gennario noted that although the village, in sharp contrast to what is happening in much of Nassau County, is currently experiencing a downturn in major crimes — murder, manslaughter, rape, assault with intent to commit murder, arson, burglary and larceny — it does face some challenges. Hempstead, just to the north, has some of the highest crime rates in the county. Gennario also cited the village’s proximity to Manhattan and the dangers of busy major roads like Sunrise Highway and Peninsula Boulevard.

“I’m not going to lie, but if Rockville Centre didn’t have its own police force, crime would be way up,” he said. “I look at these things constantly, and we address them the best that we can.”

According to Gennario, the village has had only seven assaults so far this year, while Hempstead has seen 142. The village has had no homicides or rapes, while Hempstead has recorded six homicides and seven rapes.

Gennario did acknowledge that his force has been dealing with a rash of robberies recently. “We can address the prevention of robberies with more aggressive patrols,” he said. “This is a safe village.”