Cipullo: The Bad Guys Know Who We Are

The Garden City Police Department is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and Commissioner Ernest Cipullo urges residents to call them if something - anything - seems awry.

"The reason we're here is to protect the community," he said, "and we certainly would like you to call us. Dog's barking at 3 o'clock in the morning? Call us. See something that doesn't look right? Call us."

Residents have been on high alert since burglaries have been reported around the village, particularly three on one night in the eastern section on Russell Road, Kenwood Road and Birch Lane. 

These were all back door burglaries that took place during the weekend of Nov. 11-12 between 5 p.m. and 12 a.m. Cipullo says Nassau County reported 24 burglaries of a similar type that same evening.

"It appears it might be a ring," he said. "These guys are good. They removed two safes out of Nassau County homes."

What's important to note here is that in most of the Garden City cases the house alarm was not on. "That's a problem," Cipullo said. "Most of the time when we go to the burlgary scene it's not an alarm ringing it's when someone comes home and finds their house burglarized. When asked if they have an alarm they say yes but it wasn't on. If you have an alarm put the alarm on."

About a year ago, Cipullo said his own home was burglarized. "I have an alarm. The alarm was on. The guy went in through a front window at about 11 a.m. The alarm went off, the siren was going. He had enough time to get upstairs, grab a draw out of a dresser - he grabbed the wrong draw fortunately - and make it out of the house.

"The alarm doesnt necessarily mean someone is going to get apprehended but the alarm in most instances scares them off before they have the chance to do any damage or to gather up any property."

Most recently on Nov. 23, two burlgaries to neighboring houses on Wyatt Road occurred between 5 and 10 p.m. Police report a rear window to each residence was found pried open, rooms inside each residence were ransacked and an undetermined amount of jewelry was taken from each.

A month prior, on Oct. 21, police report an attempted burglary at a Maple Street residence. The police department was alerted that a burglary alarm was activated and upon arrival officers observed a pried open first floor window. They also determined that there was no apparent entry; the alarm activation apparently caused the perpetrator to leave the area.

Also in October, Garden City police arrested two Hempstead teens for a burglary that occurred on Maxwell Road thanks, in part, to the help of an alert neighbor. A female witness observed the two males "acting suspiciously" and noticed a rear sliding door opened at the Maxwell Road home. When she looked inside, she observed and yelled at the two defendants, police said, at which time they unlocked the front door and fled outside.

A short time later both suspects were stopped by Garden City police in front of an Arthur Street home where the witness positively identified them. A backpack containing assorted jewelry was found on one of the defendants. A bolt cutter was also recovered in the rear yard.

Cipullo said although the department is doing all it can to get the bad guys it needs the help of residents. "Unfortunately the bad guys know who we are," he said. "We don't know who they are."

In the area of the recently reported burglaries police have doubled up marked and unmarked patrols, Cipullo said. Garden City detectives have also thoroughly canvassed the area and are working with Nassau County detectives and the county's intel system, which everyday lets Garden City officers know what took place all over the county.

Nassau County crime scene investigators have also investigated every burglary that took place in Garden City. Cipullo said latent prints were taken at several of the scenes but the prints have to match something.

"In one our burlgaries they did get a latent print off a light bulb. Whoever the burglar was he unscrewed the light bulbs to keep it dark. But this isnt like NCIS or whatever's on television. Just because you get a latent print doesn't mean you got someboedy. It has to match something."

He further noted that the back up on latent prints is eight months - a substantial wait to get the results.

Garden City detectives are also working on four cases involving DNA, Cipullo said. "Again the DNA has to match up to something," he said. "Just because you get a sample - some of these guys will go in there and take a beer out of the refrigerator and drink the beer and leave the bottle on the table - it has to match something."

One of the department's three police academy recruits resigned. The department is currently interviewing candidates to replace him. Further, three of six injured officers have returned to duty. Cipullo hopes to have the remaining injured officers back on the streets by year's end.