Police assuage fears at Civic Forum meeting

In reaction to the gunpoint robbery of a Cross Bay Boulevard retailer on Saturday, January 27, a representative from the 106th Precinct sought to alleviate residents’ fears about a recent up-tick in crime in Howard Beach and the surrounding areas at the Howard Beach Civic Forum’s monthly meeting held on Tuesday, January 30.
Hoping to clear up any misconceptions, Captain Matthew Travaglia began his presentation by assuring the audience that police believe the robbery of the Radio Shack located at 160-10 Cross Bay Boulevard was an isolated incident.
“We looked at it from the perspective of just looking at Cross Bay Boulevard, we looked at it from the perspective of just looking at the 106th Precinct and then we’ve even expanded it to looking at it as a county wide—looking through Kings County and Queens County just to see if there’s a bigger pattern.”
The robbery took place when three male suspects entered the store at approximately 7:20 p.m. According to police, one suspect held a gun to an employee’s back with the others lead the remaining employees to a bathroom in the rear of the store.
The men stole over $30,000 in merchandise including cell phones and laptop computers. After fleeing the scene through a rear door, the three made their getaway traveling westbound on 156th Avenue in an unknown model 2005 Ford SUV, the police said.
“It’s an unfortunate situation but like I said I don’t really think that [it is necessary] for the community at large to be very, very, very concerned,” he said. “I always like to say I am always concerned about these crimes, but I don’t like people getting fearful of going into stores and worrying.”
“For the most part this is a very, very safe community.”
Reviewing the 106th Precinct’s major crime statistics for the most recent 28-day period, Travaglia also noted that 30 robberies took place within the entire command during that time. Of those, seven were in the immediate area and had resulted in four arrests.
Two of those robberies took place on the street near Lindenwood. Although the two happened over a week apart, one at approximately 4 p.m. and the other around 7:15 p.m, both were perpetrated by two men wearing ski masks.
There were also two reported burglaries in the area, however only one of those was a classic burglary in which the thief appeared to have entered the home through an open window, said Travaglia.
Neighbors noticed a light switched on at the second burglarized home while its owners were in Florida. While technically considered a burglary, the vandalized cabinets and ceiling tiles found there by police has led them to believe the home was more likely to have been broken into by bored youths than burglars.
Similarly, bored youths roaming Cross Bay Boulevard and other Howard Beach locales continue to remain a problem for some in the neighborhood. Travaglia said that the police are concerned not only because of the complaints, but also because the teens may be putting themselves at risk of becoming crime victims
“There is a segment of this community that doesn’t understand the environment that surrounds Howard Beach,” he said. “[The kids] are vulnerable.”
Additionally, the police are concerned about growing racial tensions in the neighborhood.
McDonald’s on Cross Bay Boulevard has complained that large groups of neighborhood youths have taunted employees there. Additionally, the youths are said to have kicked over garbage pails and defaced the restaurant’s property with scratch graffiti vandalism. The restaurant has video surveillance tapes supporting its claims, Travaglia said.
“It’s getting to be to a level where the youths, in these groups of over ten, are taunting workers and some of these workers are minority individuals coming from outside this area. This is a tremendous concern for us because this is something that could explode at any time here and it’s something I need to avoid.”
Travaglia said that after being assigned to precincts in both Forest Hills and Jamaica for five years each, in his professional experience racial tension is not unique to Howard Beach.
“It happens in every community,” he explained. “Regardless of where any type of behavior alludes to that it’s something racially motivated, it needs to be completely shut down immediately,” he said.
“We’re getting complaints that aren’t, they’re not at the level of where I would say getting to be criminality, but they’re getting to a level where it needs to be taken care of.”