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WPCNR POLICE GAZETTE. By John F. Bailey. March 9, 2006: Captain Ann Fitzsimmons and Detective Gus Fazzino of the White Plains Police Department addressed the North Broadway Civic Association Thursday evening, offering to work with the neighborhood to set up a Neighborhood Watch organization. Captain Fitzsimmons told WPCNR the police department is standing by to work with other Neighborhood Associations to set up similar “Watch” systems. She said the Battle Hill Association and the Rosedale Association have also asked the police to work with them to set up the system.
Captain Ann Fitzsimmons and Detective Gus Fazzino addressing the North Broadway Civic Association Thursday evening at George Washington School. Photo, WPCNR News
Captain Fitzsimmons address to the group, confirmed the report of a break-ins and a burglary last week that WPCNR had received from a North Broadway resident. She was invited by the Association to inform the neighborhood about the string of unusual incidents.
Fitzsimmons said these incidents had occurred over the school winter vacation last week. She described the incidents as being 4 ransackings with nothing being reported stolen, and one burglary where things were stolen. Exact time and dates of the intrusions were not known, just the dates when they were discovered.
She said a home was ransacked on Montross Avenue (off Orchard Street) when residents were out for the day, and returned home to discover the intrusion. A vacant home on Harwood Avenue (off North Broadway and Brookdale) was ransacked and was discovered by a police officer checking the home on February 28.
A home on Holland (two long Broadway blocks south of Harwood the Rural Cemetary), was discovered ransacked after being reported by a neighbor, also on the 28th of February. A residence on McBride Avenue (off North Broadway), said to be in the vicinity of the home of the Chief of Police, was also reported ransacked February 27. There was a burglary on Wardman Street (off Ferris Avenue), where goods were reported stolen. Captain Fitzsimmons said there was also “others” on the other side of town, but they did not appear connected. She did not reveal what was taken in the burglary.
Detective Fazzino said he was willing to work with North Broadway and any neighborhood Association to set up a Neighborhood Watch system. A neighborhood he said had to elect a chairperson to head the Watch organization and a series of block captains. To organize “the watch,” he said the Block Captains would give police data on all residences, including who lived there and information the police would find helpful in investigating possible incidents involving a particular residence. Fazzino said the block captains would “network” with each other, reporting information through the Chairperson, watching and notifying police of goings-on in the neighborhood. Each block captain would have a special i.d. by which the police would recognize them.
Fazzino said he was willing to go into the neighborhoods, conduct security checks on individual homes, making suggestions on how to make homes less vulnerable to being targeted by opportunists looking for signs of homes vacant during the day.
Fazzino noted that in the interim, when leaving your home vacant, lights should be on timers; arrangements made to take in mail; have cars parked in the driveway; and of course, make arrangements to have the driveway shoveled in case of snow.
Neighborhood associations intersted in forming Neighborhood Watches in White Plains should contact Detective Fazzino of the White Plains Police Department at (914) 422-6227, or Captain Fitzsimmons, for details.
Captain Fitzsimmons said last year the Police Department had cut crime 33%, and to date in 2006 they were down another 27%, but they needed neighborhood help to keep this performance improving.
