By Jeff Lipton
Since Richard McGuire took over command of the Fourth Precinct last month as deputy inspector, replacing Insp. George Gudmundsen, who was assigned to the Eighth Precinct in Bethpage, McGuire has examined ways to improve accident-prone locations by cracking down on scofflaws. The Fourth Precinct takes in the Five Towns, Atlantic Beach, Oceanside, Island Park, East Rockaway, Point Lookout and Lido Beach.
In his efforts to curtail quality-of-life offenses, McGuire said, he subscribes to the broken windows theory: When an area is run-down and graffiti starts to appear, squatters and criminals see it as ripe for the taking. When small problems go unchecked in a community, larger problems tend to develop, he said. That's why we want to address quality-of-life issues, McGuire said. Most people never become victims of robberies or other serious crimes. Most people will never have their house broken into. But almost everyone on a day-to-day basis is affected by quality-of-life offenses.
McGuire has been examining accident-prone areas throughout the Fourth Precinct. The main intersections include, but are not limited to, Peninsula Boulevard and Rockaway Turnpike in North Lawrence, Peninsula Boulevard and Mill Road in Hewlett, Broadway and Everit Avenue in Hewlett, Central Avenue and Rockaway Turnpike in Lawrence, Peninsula Boulevard and Woodmere Boulevard in Woodmere, and the entire stretch of Route 878. He is also taking a look at Atlantic and Ocean Avenues in East Rockaway, Rockaway Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Oceanside, and Long Beach Road and Mott Street in Oceanside, and McGuire will attempt to curb speeding at Lawson Boulevard and Long Beach Road in Oceanside and the entire stretch of Austin Boulevard in Island Park. He will also check aggressive driving and speeding on Lido Boulevard.
We are evaluating the number of accidents and factors that cause these accidents and [will] try to address these factors through enforcement and education, McGuire said.
McGuire, 48, who has served more than 26 years on the county's police force, returns to the Fourth Precinct after serving there for less than a year in 1987 as a sergeant. In that short time, however, he earned two meritorious commendations Ñ one for saving a man threatening to leap off the Atlantic Beach Bridge and the other for arresting three suspects who had shot a victim in a robbery in Far Rockaway. He arrested them moments before they were about to rob a Dunkin' Donuts on Rockaway Turnpike in North Lawrence, and recovered a sawed-off shotgun from their vehicle.
All told, McGuire has earned 11 department commendations, three Congressional Medals of Honor and three Top Cop of the month awards.
He began his career as a police officer in the Sixth Precinct in 1977, and worked in plain clothes as a police officer in the county's Crime Deterrent Patrol. After his brief stint in the Fourth Precinct, he was assigned to the Fifth Precinct as a sergeant for five years. He was then promoted to lieutenant in the First Precinct, to captain in the Seventh Precinct, to captain and commanding officer of the Police Department's Emergency Management Office and to detective captain of the precinct detectives squads throughout the county, before becoming commanding officer of the Bureau of Special Operations.
I believe my experience in various areas of the department has prepared me for assignment as commanding officer of the Fourth Precinct, said McGuire, who is also a March, 2002 graduate of the FBI National Academy in Virginia.
A retirement in the Nassau County Police Department command made it necessary to shift Gudmundsen to the Eighth Precinct after he had spent more than two years at the Fourth Precinct.
McGuire welcomes the challenge as the new commanding officer of the Fourth Precinct. He said he wants to get the community involved in problem-solving. I welcome the opportunity of addressing issues in the Fourth and working with the community, he said. It's a good precinct, with good people, and I'm looking forward to getting out and meeting with the community. This is a joint effort to solve the community's problems. Policing, in general, has always been community-oriented and it should remain community-oriented. It's the most important resource that we have in achieving the primary objectives of the police department, which is to protect life and property.
McGuire said he will hold bi-monthly meetings with the community in different neighborhoods around the precinct, beginning in Inwood the first week in June.
He'll maintain the same high community profile, said Lt. Larry Feffer of the Fourth Precinct, who worked with McGuire in 1987. He's committed to the community.
Sy Glass, president of the Woodmere Merchants Association, said he has already met with McGuire and is impressed with him. He's a good man, Glass said. He has a lot of background and he wants to do the job. He knows his way around here and he should be good for us.
Joe Gelb, president of the Hewlett Business Association, added, From what I understand, his credentials are most admirable, and it really should not create any gap in the transition. I enjoy working with the police. I only have the highest regard for them.
