Criminal Activity Discussed at New Hyde Park Board Meeting
by John Nugent
At the New Hyde Park Board of Trustees meeting last Thursday Andrew Faglio of the New Hyde Park Neighborhood Watch and Inspector Ciaccio of the Nassau County Police Department, 3rd Precinct, addressed the issues of safety and crime that concern village residents.
Neighborhood Watch, a civilian patrol, reports sightings of suspicious activity in the village to the police department.
The problem of car thefts and thefts of catalytic converters from cars was highlighted in the presentation. A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that resides under the body of a car. It can be easily disassembled by a thief and sold to a body shop or junkyard for as much as $1,500, said Ciaccio. He added that for vehicles parked on a driveway overnight, backing up the car to the garage door can make it difficult for a thief to get underneath to access the catalytic converter.
Faglio cited a pilot program in New York City in which a vehicle’s license plate number is engraved on the catalytic converter to deter body shops from purchasing one from a thief and installing it on another car.
Gangs of car thieves that have proliferated around Long Island in recent years steal vehicles and drive them to Newark, New Jersey where they are sold at the port and loaded onto ships that are bound for foreign countries according to Ciaccio who stressed the importance of locking and securing vehicles when left unattended.
Faglio expressed concern for the safety of teenagers who are out and about at night as well as for people who are jogging alone.
An unsupervised gathering of about 20 teenagers behind the New Hyde Park School the night before a school holiday was recently observed by Faglio. The group had entered the school grounds through an unlocked fence.
Calling for increased police patrols, Faglio said that these young people are unknowingly at risk of predators who know from social media posts where and when they are gathering.
Faglio added that more security lighting is needed in many of the village’s public areas. He also requested the board to consider upgrading lighting requirements in the village code. Many businesses have deep alcoves that do not have adequate lighting, he said.
Nuzzi Park needs more security lighting and village bike racks should be placed where there are security cameras, said Faglio.
He also called for village businesses to place signage in their windows that the property is patrolled by the Village of New Hyde Park Neighborhood Watch.
