More than 400 Forest Hills residents crowded into the Parish Hall at Our Lady Of Mercy for a special meeting called by the 112th Precinct in order to address concerns over the recent rash of burglaries sweeping throughout the community.
More than 400 Forest Hills residents responded to an invitation from the 112th precinct to discuss their concerns over the burglary spree that swept through the precinct from early February through mid- March. Heidi Harrison Chain, President of the 112th Community Council, opened the meeting and after detailing, the vast experience of the precincts Commanding Officer Capt. Thomas Conforti, with burglaries, turned the meeting over to him.
Assuring the crowd that he would not leave the meeting until all of their questions were answered, Conforti first took the time to praise the community at their obvious interest in the situation. “I anticipated this type of turnout,” he said, “and that is indicative of a community with extraordinary interest. It is my job to keep all of you safe, and that is what I intend to do.”
Before Conforti introduced Sgt. Claudia Bartolomei, Commanding Officer of the 112th Detective Squad he told the crowd that his department was claiming no success in this matter, despite the fact that there had been no incidents over the last couple of weeks.
Sgt. Bartolomei detailed the pattern that had been established since the first incident which occurred on February 5th. “We have had nine incidents in total. Thieves are targeting, for the most part, wooden doors, either at the rear or front entry ways of strictly residential properties. They either pushed or kicked in the doors in the majority of the thefts however in two instances, entry was gained once through a very small basement window and another through an open kitchen window.” The property removed was described as jewelry and small articles and also two large widescreen TV’s one 50 inches and one 60 inches.
Detectives were able to recover four fingerprints and are currently processing those through the system. The Sgt. also confirmed that the department does have some additional leads that could not be divulged.
While it was discussed that the lack of further incident over a substantial period of time was a good sign, Sgt. Bartolomei stressed the importance of how important community awareness and cooperation is. She also suggested that residents maintain a file f photos of their valuables which can lead to successful locations through an online service known as leads on line.
The area in which the nine incidents occurred was marked by push-pins on a map held up by detectives described by Capt. Conforti as a very narrow rectangular box—extending from Metropolitan Avenue to 70th Avenue down to Fleet Street and down to 69th Avenue.
After providing as much information as could be made public, police opened the floor to questions and comments—an interlude which provided a mix of opinion and emotion.
Many varied concerns were expressed, but the concentration was heavily centered around protective and preventative measures they could take in addition to those offered by the police.
Residents did confirm that they have seen evidence of the battery of resources that have been assigned to the situation, including uniformed and plainclothes police walking and driving through the community.
Conforti maintained that the community remains the greatest asset that the department has. “Burglary is one of the hardest crimes to solve unless we catch them in the act. Everyone must be on their toes and pick up the phone and call 911. Right away.”
He urged residents not to consider installing bars on their windows and cautioned them about opportunistic business people who may try to solicit the sale of alarm systems and other devices that may prove ineffective even when in use. “I dread to think that these companies are taking advantage of people in their time of fear.”
A more proactive response he advised would be an inexpensive camera system because they act as a strong deterrent. “No one wants to see their picture on video or TV when caught in the act of a crime,” said Conforti. He referred to the growing trend of videos and surveillance footage being used by police departments all over n crime fighting.
For the most part the audience was supportive of the work done by the police thus far in the investigation but criticism by some members of the audience elicited and emotional response from one of the victims who was I the audience with his wife.
Wayne Ruggiere’s home was hit while he and his wife were out for the day. Burglars came in through the basement window and when they came home everything, on every floor of their home, had been ransacked. Some jewelry, cash and other small valuables were gone.
“It’s terrible I’m traumatized, my wife is traumatized, my kids a traumatized,” said Ruggiere. “But blaming the police is not the way to go. They could not have been better. They were here in two minutes.”
And Ruggiere maintained that the way to really help put an end to this type of activity is to help each other by keeping your eyes open and calling the police at the first sign of anything suspicious.
“We want to live in a nice neighborhood. We have nice things. It makes sense that people in crappy neighborhoods aren’t gonna get their stuff robbed. We have to look out for each other.”
By Patricia Adams
