Jagdeep Singh, (left) and Narinder Singh are two members of the Gurdwara Sikh temple in Richmond Hill that are asking for a stop sign and a security camera to be put around the block where the temple is on 118 Street and 97 Avenue. Forum Newsgroup photo by Luis Gronda.
Members of a South Richmond Hill Sikh temple are looking to increase safety around their religious building because of fear that something may happen in the future.
Several residents who frequent the Gurdwara Sikh temple at 95-26 118 Street, which is just off of Lefferts Boulevard, say that a stop sign is needed at a street surrounding the temple because the area tends to be busy, especially on Friday nights and Sundays, when services are held over there, with cars speeding down 118 and 97 Avenue where they want the stop sign. Currently at that block, there’s a stop sign on the corner 118th Street but going down 97th Avenue there are no stop signs or speed humps.
Some of the temple attendees raised their complaints at a recent 102 Precinct Community Council meeting. That precinct’s patrol area includes where the temple is located.
They were asking police what can be done to put a stop sign there as well as a security camera around the temple.
Varinder Singh, a South Ozone park resident who goes to the temple, was one of the people at last week’s police meeting. He estimates that about 4,000 to 5,000 people visit the temple during its two busiest days and the camera and stop sign are needed to protect people’s safety while they attend a service.
“If anything happens, we can capture any suspicious activity,” Singh said.
Jagdeep Singh, a Richmond Hill resident who also attended the meeting, also is requesting some kind of traffic slowing measure for that block and for a security camera. He’s advocating for the camera more because people want to feel safer.
“What happened in Wisconsin could happen here,” Jagdeep said, referring to the Sikh temple shooting that happened earlier this year. “If 5,000 people are here and one guy has a weapon who knows how many he could kill.”
Armando DeLeon, who was the commanding officer of the precinct during that meeting, said that they have requested a security camera for that area, and for other parts of the command, but he said that they have had their camera requests repeatedly turned down.
He also said that if residents are willing to pay for the camera, then they aren’t going to stop people from buying one and installing it themselves. Narinder seemed eager to potentially buy one for the area around the temple.
“Tell me how much it costs and I’ll buy one,” he said.
Regarding the stop sign request, a Department of Transportation spokesperson said that they have not received any recent request for a stop sign on that intersection. Jagdeep said he would get to work on putting together the needed paperwork for that request.
By Luis Gronda
