By:JOSEPH KELLARD
From the dog days of last summer to the snowy days of January, there have been several reports of robbers preying on innocent pedestrians in Oceanside. These robberies have involved acts such as threats with knives and guns beatings and attempted carjackings.
The most high-profile robbery occurred in September, when three men, who were later arrested in connection to a murder in Lynbrook, attacked a man on Bayside Avenue. After being thrown to the ground, the Oceanside victim was struck in the head with a handgun by a subject wearing a black rag over his face, who then stole his cell phone and wallet.
The three subjects were among five members of the Latin Kings gang who were arrested in February, after a man was fatally shot and stabbed near his home in Lynbrook and a husband and wife were attacked and robbed at knife and gunpoint in Rockville Centre.
Another high-profile robbery occurred near Temple Avodah in January, when three teens stole $105 from three younger boys who had earned the money shoveling residents' sidewalks and driveways after a snowstorm.
Other Oceanside teens were accosted when a gang of four youths went on a one-day driving robbery spree on Stevens Street, Marlborough Road and Woods Avenue in January. At each of these locations the male suspects -- described as three blacks and one white or Hispanic ranging in age from 16 to 20 -- cruised in a late-model green Ford Explorer and either stole money or physically intimidating their victims while demanding cash. Police suspect these suspects of involvement in another incident in which three teens threw a teenage boy to the ground, kicked him and demanded money at Woods Avenue earlier that month.
Despite these and other street robberies from August to January, McGuire said there has been no significant increase in robberies over the past year in Oceanside. "We have had a short-term spike where there have been more robberies," he explained last week. "But looking at the last 28-day period, we've actually had a decrease, and we've made arrests in previous robberies."
Police characterize a "trend" in a crime as one that occurs in a particular area over a short period of time, usually between 28 and 90 days, McGuire said. But "a true analysis" involves looking at the crime over a three-year period.
"When you look at crime stats, you really have to project them over a longer period of time to get a feel as to whether or not there is a pattern of crime or rate increase," he explained. "There are trends in crime and sometimes there are not any explainable reasons why they trend up or down."
One of the bolder robberies occurred at the busy Sands Shopping Center during the holiday season in December. A man approached a woman, who was parked with her baby and her grandmother in a Chevrolet Blazer outside CVS, and said he'd shoot them if they didn't get out of the vehicle. After the woman locked the doors, the man banged on the car's rear window and fled the scene in a maroon vehicle driven by a second man.
Other robberies included one last August in which a female walking to her car at 7-Eleven on Lawson Boulevard was accosted by a dark-skinned male, who grabbed her necklace from her neck and took cash from her hand. In November, four Hispanic males with bandannas covering their faces approached a teenage boy at Waukena and Neptune Avenues, produced a knife, demanded cash and stole his cell phone before fleeing. On Halloween, a teen was approached by a suspect wearing a mask and asking for money at Thorn Street, after which the suspect pushed the victim and punched and kicked him in the face.
Asked if the spike in robberies can be related to the cuts in police manpower Nassau County has experienced in recent years, with criminals perhaps more likely to commit more crimes when they see fewer police patrolling the streets, McGuire said, "We continue to put out the same amount of patrol vehicles that we have always put out. While our manpower at the Fourth Precinct is down significantly over the past two years, by approximately 20 percent, we still man the patrols in the same fashion that we always had."
The Precinct has been able to staff the vehicles it has primarily by paying officers overtime, and through union concessions each officer must work four extra days a year. "We had to make cuts to special patrol services, traffic enforcement and plainclothes units," McGuire said. "But in terms of what the public sees and what is actually out there and available to respond to 911 calls, there really is no difference."
