Car Burglary Incidents Hit Bellmore, Merrick
Police advise that residents keep their vehicles locked at all times.
A string of car burglaries in the Bellmore-Merrick area has police advising residents to make sure their vehicles are locked at all times.
Lisa, a North Bellmore mother of two, said her husband Sean moved her car on the evening of Jan. 8 and forgot to lock the doors. Later on, Lisa and Sean found that a bag of clothes kept in the car had been strewn all over her neighbor's lawn, but luckily, nothing was missing.
"Nothing was taken because I think I scared him off by turning on the lights," Lisa told Patch. "... My car is in my driveway and my bedroom window is 15 feet away. [It was] scary!"
Lisa added that after the incident, police officers told her they have the suspect on surveillance.
According to police, back on Oct. 2, 2011, an incident occurred on Elliot Place in Merrick where a white male suspect entered a vehicle with a flashlight. The incident was recorded by the homeowner, however, the video quality was so poor that detectives were unable to do anything further.
Police said that the two incidents may be related.
Lisa said that she was told the suspect is a skinny, white male, who wears a hoodie and smokes.
"The [suspect] won't break a window, he just checks for unlocked cars," Lisa said. "He looks for GPS [units], laptops and cameras. ... He leaves the car door open when he is done so it won't make noise when he closes it."
Police said that if vehicles are left unlocked, this is an easy crime. The suspect can get in and out without making any noise.
Claudine
9:22 am on Friday, January 13, 2012
FYI It happened in East Meadow as well. My car was hit 2 times in 1 month! We found out that our alarm key wasn't working right. I called the police and I was told that it was a homeless man who looks for change. They do absolultely nothing and they know about it! it's a constant problem. My biggest beef is that my car was physically on my property near the back of my house next to my daughters window. So instead of hitting cars on the street, this jerk is going onto peoples property. My daughters window is next to where my cars are parked. whose to say this guy won't do something to my 4 yr old. Maybe scare her or persuade her to open her window? I put up bars on her window. I think the police need to make more of a presence undercover and get this guy. Whose to say that he is there when someone is coming home or leaving from work and this jerk may have some sort of weapon and use it? What I want to know is if he is physically on my property why can't the police do anything? Why aren't they doing anything when they know this has been an issue for the past 7 months? Why aren't there police driving undercover cars in the areas where it's occuring and arresting this person? Why aren't the police doing anything?
Town of Bellmore resident
12:47 pm on Friday, January 13, 2012
Maybe you should secure your car instead of blaming the police
Claudine
4:42 pm on Friday, January 13, 2012
First of all if you read my comment you would see that we checked our remote that locks the doors and see that we were having problems with it. That does happen. And furthermore since then we corrected that. Also, one should be able to leave a car unlocked and not have to worry about people constantly going through their vehicles.
Furthermore, there is more to the issue than just checking car doors. If you had read my entire post, which I strongly suggest you do, you will see that I add that people come and go at odd hours and what if someone runs into the person or persons doing this? The person could be armed with anything and hurt someone. did you ever think of that? My husband works in law enforcement and comes and goes at odd hours sometimes. Whose to say that either coming or going he runs into this person just as they are checking ours or our neigbors car doors? Whose to say that something bad might occur because they are caught in the act?
Also, as I wrote in my response which you are too brain dead to fully read, I did state that this has been an ongoing issue and that the police know about it, and don't do much. It's not like its something recent. It's been going on for many months. Why can't the police put unmarked cars in the areas where it has been occuring and try to catch the person/s committing these crimes in the first place before there are more victims?
Next time read the entire post/response before you mouth off!
Claudine
4:49 pm on Friday, January 13, 2012
First of all calling names makes you look like an uneducated loser! Second of all if you had read my post you will see that after the second incident we noticed that our car alarm thingie wasn't working correctly and we fixed that. Those things have batteries and do go eventually. Also read my entire post before calling me names. I did state that the police have known about this for over 7 months. Why in that time haven't they put unmarked cars in the areas where it occurs and try to solve the problem instead of doing nothing. Do you realize that many people come and go at odd hours due to work etc? Whose to say that when someone either comes or goes they catch the person breaking into a vehicle and suddenly something bad happens because the person got caught? Did you ever think of that? They could be attempting to break into a neighbors car while one leaves the house to go to work, see's something and next thing you know someone is seriously injured. It happens. Also this jerk is right next to my child's window on my property. Not cool at all. Do it to cars on the street, but don't go onto someone's property. You never know what kind of people they are or if they have weapons. Seriously.
Read the entire post next time before you comment. Bad things happen to innocent people cuz they are in the wrong place at the wrong time such as this!
Claudine
5:13 pm on Friday, January 13, 2012
Since I posted my comment and many people don't read the entire post, let me refresh for everyone. This person/s committing these crimes are going onto personal property and doing this. Not just cars in the street. Also many people work odd hours and come and go at odd hours, so whose to say they may not see the person/s doing this and something bad happens? Also the police are paid to "protect and serve". Well since this is an ongoing problem for many months and it is well known to as far as I know the first precint, why aren't they "protecting" and or "serving". Honestly, ncpd and scpd are some of the highest paid police forces in the nation and they cannot have undercover police in the area's where the crimes are occuring and catching the person/s doing this so we don't have to lock our doors, or God forbid and many people have done this, forget to lock their doors! This isn't something that just happened in the past two or three months, its way longer than that. So since everyone knows about what time the crimes occur and what neighborhoods, shouldn't there be police around looking for someone checking doorhandles? Some homeowners are totally insane and would think nothing of shooting this person. We pay too high taxes in nassau county to have this keep re-occuring. Lets catch the fools doing this and end the problem once and for all so the police can go back after the real bad guys.
Town of Bellmore resident
7:41 pm on Sunday, January 15, 2012
Yeah, you are right. Lets get a cut-rate police force. Pay them tons less. That'll work.
Claudine
1:14 pm on Monday, January 16, 2012
Have you been to NYC in the past decade? Times square alone is completely different from the early 90's. So are parts of brooklyn, queens and the bronx. Also my neighbor an nypd cop, worked 36 hours straight during the cleanup of zuccoti park. Those men and women in blue lived through 9/11, it's aftermath, budget cuts, staffing cuts, equipment failures and cuts and in the past 20 years NYC as a whole has had a reduction in murder rates, and more places are now safer places to live and work. And guess what? They get half the salary of Ncpd and scpd! Can you explain how a cut rate police force works? Look at NYC! One of the biggest and busiest ports in the world. They work in conjunction with the port authority, federal law enforcement, other countries even! They go out to other countries to get trained. On a cut rate budget! NYPD is training their officers in middle eastern relations and languages, on a cut rate budget! NYPD is vigilant on subways at all hours on a cut rate budget. They do soooo much more on a cut rate budget! Sure there are a lot of things that can still be done. Lets see Park Slope, Brooklyn, well thanks to the help from investors and nypd it's a classy place to live. How about Long Island City? Or Red Hook? Did you know 100 yrs ago Red Hook was just as bad as it was 10 years ago? Nope bet you didn'tknow about that.
Claudine
1:20 pm on Monday, January 16, 2012
Who do you think gets rid of the squatters in all the up and coming neighborhoods? Oh also the drugs and stuff? A cut rate police force! Who had inadequate equipment on 9/11 and training? NYPD, NYFD and port authority. yet many, many people are able to talk about 9/11 because of a cut rate police force that literally had to wing it on 9/11. No training for any of that and look at all those that made it home with stories to tell for the ages! A cut rate police force!
Yet Nassau County has a burgeoning drug gang problem and with all the $$ and staff cannot to anything about it. They have to call in federal law enforcement! Bet you didn't know about that! Bet you didn't know that NCPD has lots of training but rarely helps out nypd! Bet you didn't know about that! Do you ever really see police walking phsyically around the county making their presence known and demanding respect with their presence? Nope, too high and mighty for that! If ncpd is paid respectively, then why is federal law enforcement being brought in to assist them? Can you answer that? Bet you didn't even have a clue that was going on. I know for a fact ncpd and scpd are considered a joke. thats not good. Thats how bad things go from bad to worse and then federal law enforcement has to shake then to their core to get them to work. Bet you didn't know about that either! There is a lot of stuff you don't know apparently. Yes they earn their pay, but we have a long ways to go!
Claudine
1:25 pm on Monday, January 16, 2012
Another think you all knowing twit, federal law enfrocement is not happy with ncpd. There is such a huge problem with foreign gangs that they don't even have a clue as to where to start. This is something that could have been handled quickly 30 years ago, yet nothing was done. They get higher salaries, but are at less greater physical risk than nypd. I would feel safer seeing more police cruisers go up and down streets, and police walking around saying "hello" and keeping an eye out for trouble. If there was more of a presence years ago, the current issue which you are totally unaware of, wouldn't even be. The gangs consider them a joke and easily manipulated. Did u know that? Oh nassau county is going to see some changes, but unless those who are paid to do their job have adequate training and education and actually carry out their jobs to the fullest, we are going to become a not so nice place to live. Would you live in roosevelt or freeport? Or are you afraid? Would you live in new cassel? Just to name a few places in nassau where there are many failures and not just police force, in general. The police can police those area's more and let people know that crap is not acceptable, before it spreads to other neighborhoods and creates a bigger problem. Which is where we are at now. I respect all those public servants, they need help, but payting them more isn't going to help.
Thomas Hayes
4:03 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2012
Just allot of crime in recent years in Bellmore, resident for the past 29 years never seen a police car in my neighborhood but houses have been robbed, broken in to, cars , sheds, broken in to, Vans chasing kids, day time robberies on the elderly,but I see Police cars parked at 7-11 all the time but not patrolling the streets near my home? maybe a red light camera on every block with motion sensors to catch criminals? we won't have to pay excess salaries and get free protecting from cameras.