** Important Note – Next months community meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 15th. Usually, the meeting is on the second Tuesday of the month, however November 7th is Election Day.
** Command was not able to attend/facilitate this particular meeting because of the protests in Oakdale.
A quick update on the county data breach, but they were tight lipped about it. They mentioned that the FBI and CIA are basically in charge of it at this point.
October is Domestic Awareness Month – This was the theme of the entire meeting honestly. The meeting was run by Sgt. Kelly Hartill of the Domesic Violence and Elder Abuse Bureau and her team.
What is Domestic Violence?
- People generally think of “violence” as physical: However, it can come in the forms of physical, emotional, financial abuse etc.
- Ultimately, abuse boils down to Power and Control of one person over another.
Orders of Protection
- Two types of Orders of Protection: a “Full Stay Away” and a “Refrain From”
- Full Stay Away – No communication, contact, interaction of any kind.
- Refrain From – These orders stop certain acts, the most common one is drinking.
** Sgt. Hartill and her team made sure to emphasize that there should always be an Advocate present when trying to obtain/going over specifics of an order or protection. This can get very technical, and these people are provided and know all of the specifics.
All orders must be Court Modified. A police officer has no authority to modify or interpret an order of protection. If an individual is in violation of the order, they are being arrested. There are no exceptions. An individual can advocate for themselves if they feel it was a valid violation, but that is in front of a judge. The judge has sole authority here.
Specifics on LEP (Limited English Persons) speakers came next. People are able to be provided language assistance in their primary tongue at no charge.
All statements are written in English, then translated back. Corrections can be made here.
Domestic Incidents cannot be amended once signed. If someone later on wants to add something or change it after it’s signed, a new incident report is filed.
Danger Assessment Survey – This is tool which can be provided to evaluate if someone is at future risk for violence. This got technical. It asked very specific questions, and basically if someone scores a certain amount, they are at greater risk. I’m sure this can be found online.
LIADV (Long Island against domestic violence) Advocates – OK, there were a lot of different specific agencies: Too many to write. I’m sure this is publicly available. They are made available at all 7 county precincts. I’ve got a few here, I can provide the phone numbers.
- Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk 631-360-3606
- LIADV 631-666-8833
- VIBES – 631-360-2606
** There is a virtual or in person Domestic Violence presentation on October 19th, 2022 at 3:30 PM at Suffolk County Community College. I’ll provide the flyer in the email.
There were a few other precinct notes as well:
- “Lock it or Lose it” campaign – In the 5th, theft and break ins have slowed down. They didn’t provide exact numbers though.
- Catalytic Converter theft – This is still a major issue. They’ve had some arrests, but they’re running into a major problem with the “no bail” condition. These people are back on the streets a few hours later with a summons that the police know they aren’t going to show up for…
- Homeless outreach is in the same place as last month – providing services and resources to those who will take it. Having difficulty removing people from certain areas though (train stations)
- School Zone violations – They didn’t quantify it, but it was said that MANY summons have been written, and they aren’t going to slow down on this until people get that they can’t speed in a school zone.
** 19 new police officers in the 5th precinct – most of them are off field training at this point, so there will be more police cars on the road.
The “Shot Spotter” is coming back into Suffolk County. (This is everywhere, not just the 5th.) These are the sensors on top of the poles which alert sector cars when a firearm is discharged. They have become extremely accurate (within 3 feet of where gun was fired) All caliber weapons can be picked up by this technology.
Body cameras are not in place yet, however the goal is before Halloween. They weren’t willing to commit to a date with everything else going on in the county.
Legislator Dominick Thorne, from the 7th district, was in attendance and said a few words. Basically, asked if there were any problems locally, and no one had a response. Not much happening here. I’m going to provide his card though. It has all of the county phone numbers on it. Useful stuff.
