By MARSHA S. ANDER
With no suspects, evidence or viable leads, four village mayors from the area have teamed up to lead an effort to end the burglary spree, which has unsettled residents in the upper-middle-class neighborhood.
"Some of these burglaries are daredevil stuff, and nobody has seen anything," said Hewlett Bay Park Mayor Steven Kaufman, referring to several incidents in which a perpetrator has climbed onto a garage roof and then an attic gable to get into a home. "Increased police presence costs money," Kaufman told the crowd gathered at the Seawane Country Club in Hewlett Harbor, "and after a while, [police] are not going to want to devote all these resources unless we keep the pressure on them."
Kaufman was joined by Mayors Mark Weiss of Hewlett Harbor, Susan Schlaff of Woodsburgh and Mitchell Dix of Hewlett Neck, with whom he had previously met along with County Executive Tom Suozzi and Inspector Paul Clark, commanding officer of the 4th Precinct. They lobbied for increased street patrols, greater coordination of the precinct's internal resources, better communication between the police and villages, and the use of new technology.
Weiss said that the town meeting put a collective face on the disappointment, frustration and anger that residents wanted to relay to police about the way the burglaries have been handled over the past several years. "We know that there are some 25 or 30 of you living in the community whose sense of peace and security has been shaken by a home burglary," said Weiss, adding, "From a village perspective, doing nothing and going forward was simply not an option."
But progress is being made, as there have been no break-ins during the last six weeks. Detective Lt. Lawrence Feffer, commanding officer of the 4th Squad, announced that on June 5, Lashawn Killibrew of Far Rockaway had been arrested in connection with a burglary on Woodmere Boulevard. Feffer said that Killibrew is believed to be responsible for a number of crimes in the area, but there are several professional burglars working the area. There have been no other arrests.
Feffer said that police were fortunate to apprehend Killibrew, because he cut himself on a window and DNA was recovered and matched. "We are using whatever technology there is to help us track, catch and identify any burglars that might be committing burglaries in the area," Feffer said. Unfortunately, he added, there is limited time in which to recover the proceeds of these crimes.
Detective Ron Burk of the Crimes Against Property squad said that stolen property, primarily jewelry, may wind up in New York City's diamond district or moved out of the country. "Some unscrupulous dealers there may have international connections," Burk said.
A burglary detective for 20 years, Burk sees the same type of crimes on both the north and south shores of Long Island, and works with the CAP squad to set up patterns to catch thieves. "A burglar is an opportunist," he told residents. "He looks for mail in mailboxes, newspapers outside and no cars in the driveway." Burk advised residents to leave interior lights on when they are gone, remove jewelry from master bedrooms, have home safes bolted to the floor and fitted with alarms, and be aware that July and August are prime time for burglaries, since many people are away.
Police caution residents to make sure they have motion detectors in their master bedrooms, and that most break-ins occur on homes' second floors. "[Burglars] like rooftops," said Burk. "If they get in the skylights or exhaust fans, they are basically in your attic. Now all they have to do is kick through the sheetrock and they're in your master bedroom."
The veteran detective also cautioned the crowd to keep alarm keypads out of sight from windows or front doors. "Green, which means the alarm is off, means go for them," he said. Burglars can then knock on the door and, if the alarm is off and nobody is home, choose their point of entry.
Clark said that police are focusing on the perimeter of the Five Towns, and can often be seen on Broadway and East Rockaway Road. To discourage criminals, Clark explained, they are using new technology called a license plate reader. Mounted on a police vehicle, it can read and store every license plate number for future reference. "[Police] will have the ability to log the plate numbers and, should a crime take place, they know who has been in the area," Clark said.
In addition, a supervisor is responding to all alarm codes, which is not standard practice. "We want to make sure that every alarm - although 99 percent are unfounded - is handled properly," Clark said. He described the break-ins as problematic, since most of the entries are made without any visible signs of break-in.
The time patterns of the crimes are also unknown, since some of the burglars have stolen valuables and then put everything back in place. Many victims don't even notice they've been robbed until they look for their jewelry or cash days later.
Despite the lack of success in ending the burglary spree, the past year has been a good one for 4th Squad officers, according to Clark. Since he took over at the precinct last July, there has been a 22 percent reduction of crime in the area, a 20 percent increase in DWI arrests and 5 percent more moving violation summonses.
One Hewlett Harbor resident of 47 years, who identified herself only as Rhonda, said that cars parked in her driveway were recently vandalized. The unlocked cars sustained broken windows and internal damage, and a phone was stolen. Rhonda said she is not living in fear, because she is hopeful that police will reduce such crime. She also showed police a flier that was left at her home by a movie producer asking to use her home for a location shoot. Other residents said they had received the same flier - one more thing that police will now be investigating.
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