Tags Posts tagged with "Inspector"

Inspector

Drug busts are becoming more common in Suffolk County. Above, drugs and other items seized during one such bust. File photo

Overall crime is dropping in the 6th Precinct — but one wouldn’t know that by looking at the number of drug arrests.

Fewer crimes are being reported across the board while heroin arrests have doubled in the last five years, according to Suffolk County Police Department statistics shared at a joint meeting Tuesday night of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association and Comsewogue Community Crime Awareness Committee. Inspector Bill Murphy, the head of the precinct, said those arrests numbered 148 in 2011 but ballooned to 298 last year.

“And that’s just our arrests,” he said, noting that it doesn’t account for all heroin use. “Those are times that we come across it.”

Comsewogue area residents and visitors from neighboring civic associations vented their frustrations about local drug-related crimes and activity at the meeting in the Comsewogue Public Library on Terryville Road as they received the most recent data about police action on the issue. Despite the overall drop in crime, Murphy said drug addicts are still behind many of the reported incidents in the 6th Precinct.

“Unfortunately, a lot of the serious crimes we have are driven by drug abuse: The people addicted to heroin and they’re so addicted to it, they have to get money to go and buy these drugs,” he said. “They’re doing stickups, they’re doing burglaries.”

The police are cracking down on the drug trade, however. Murphy noted that officers had executed search warrants on three “drug houses” in the past week alone. One of them was in Centereach, where he said cops busted a repeat offender and caught him with 4 ounces of cocaine and 2 ounces of heroin.

“He’s going away for a long time,” Murphy said.

But the police activity is not limited to arrests. Officers also attack local drug addiction when they save people from opioid overdoses using Narcan, a medication they carry that stops overdoses of drugs like heroin, Vicodin, OxyContin, Demerol and Percocet.

Officer Will Gibaldi said at the meeting that in the past four weeks alone, they responded to three overdoses in Port Jefferson and one in Port Jefferson Station.

“We do handle a decent amount of them,” the officer said.

Police have been relying on Narcan so much in the few years since they first got access to medication that the department has stopped keeping track of how many lives officers have saved with the overdose antidote.

“We actually stopped giving statistics on it,” Murphy said. “After we broke the ‘500’ mark, there were just so many of them, it was senseless to even bother keeping numbers.”

For residents who are concerned about drug activity in their neighborhoods or want to report it to the police, Gibaldi emphasized that communication with the public is a department priority, saying, “Our door is always open.”

Likewise, Murphy invited people to reach out to him.

“If you contact me with a problem, you will get a response. You will not be ignored.”

SCPD’s 2nd Precinct commanding officer, Inspector Edward Brady, with wife Lori, earns a town proclamation. Photo by Rohma Abbas

Suffolk County police Inspector Edward Brady, who touts a 36-year history of service, will hang his hat in retirement on Friday.

The inspector, who has served at the helm of the 2nd Precinct for five and a half years, was honored in style at Tuesday’s town board meeting, which was attended by Brady’s wife, Lori, and many 2nd Precinct and county police officials, including Commissioner Edward Webber.

The incoming 2nd Precinct commanding officer, Inspector Christopher Hatton. Photo by Rohma Abbas
The incoming 2nd Precinct commanding officer, Inspector Christopher Hatton. Photo by Rohma Abbas

Town board members praised Brady, including Councilwoman Tracey Edwards (D), who issued the inspector a town proclamation for his service — but not before ticking off the inspector’s storied resume.

Edwards said 14 of Brady’s 36 years of service were at the 2nd Precinct. He graduated from the police academy in July 1979 and first joined the 2nd Precinct in October that year. From then on, he moved between precincts and roles, eventually rising to become the 2nd Precinct’s commanding officer in 2009.

Edwards said she was “so, so proud to be honoring” Brady and called him one of a kind.

“Inspector Brady, Supervisor Petrone said it right. You are calm. You are thoughtful, responsive, accessible and very candid.”

The inspector said he’s honored to have served the Town of Huntington.

“The people here really take pride in their community,” he said.

3rd Precinct Deputy Inspector Christopher Hatton, of Miller Place, will take over for Brady post-retirement. He said he’s looking forward to the new role.

“Hopefully I do as good a job as the previous inspector did,” he said.

Asked what’s next for him, Brady said he plans to spend time with his kids, embark on house projects at his home in the Town of Islip and get some golfing in.

“[Suffolk Deputy Chief Kevin Fallon] told me I have to work on my chip shot,” Brady joked.