Newly appointed Detective Kenneth Zorn (left) with Precinct Council President Frank Dardani and Executive Officer Captain John Gancey. Patricia Adams/The Forum Newsgroup
The 106 Precinct Council meeting saw a large influx of Howard Beach residents in attendance for the first time. Residents raised several issues of concern, primarily focused on vandals, burglaries and the most recent rash of armed car jackings.
One resident, Sylvia Ganser, who currently rents a house in Howard Beach questioned Executive Officer Captain John Gancey as to how long she would have to wait for a patrol car to show up at her house if she called 911 if someone broke into her home. Gancey said that the circumstances were all different according to the priority of the call but that she should expect the unit to arrive in reasonable amount of time.
Ganser, who recently sold a condo on Park Avenue in Manhattan, and who says she’s looking for someplace to buy a house, says word of all the robberies in the neighborhood has left her with much concern over whether to move to the neighborhood or not.
The sentiment was countered by a longtime Howard Beach resident Maryann Butera who told Ganser that moving to Howard Beach was a great idea, after all she reminded, “Crime can–and unfortunately does– happen anywhere, even in a rock solid community like this.”
But efforts to derail the insinuations that Howard Beach is not well patrolled by police continued with further inquiry by Cetti Madonna, long time Howard Beach resident, who says she fears for her young children and her community in general after violent gunpoint car jackings.
Captain Gancey responded by saying that he understood her concerns and that of her neighbors and assured Madonna that many additional resources have been devoted to patrolling Howard Beach in the wake of the incidents. “We have enlisted the help of many units from the department outside of this command,” said Gancey. “We’ve gotten help from the borough and from citywide units specializing in robberies. We will continue to keep this stepped up patrol in place until it is no longer needed.”
After the meeting those in attendance said they planned on making another visit to the next meeting with many more residents in tow. “We’re all very concerned,” said one resident who identified himself as Vincent. “We know the police want to help us, but we have got to tell them what we need.” Vincent was referring to another point raised by the Captain at the meeting after one resident told of thieves breaking into her car which she failed to report because, she said, “it was too cold and the cops took too long to come.”
“If we don’t know about it, we can’t possibly be there,” said Gancey.
Other issues raised at the meeting included a series of complaints from residents who say that speeding through the entire Howard Beach area is out of hand and represents serious risk to pedestrians and motorists. Two recent accidents have brought about police checkpoints in the community to warn drivers of speeding dangers and to check for proper licensing. Precinct sources say that such checkpoints will continue to be set up after any sever or fatal accident that occurs.
Before brining the meeting to a close an official announcement was made that Community Affairs Officer Kenneth Zorn has been promoted to detective.
The Forum would like to offer our congratulations to Detective Zorn for his many years of service to the precinct and the community. We applaud this promotion and wish Det. Zorn the best of luck.
By Patricia Adams
