Editorial
EDITORIAL: Tamping down gang violence in Huntington Station
It seems indisputable now that there's a gang violence problem in Huntington Station. The Suffolk County Police Department is cracking down in the neighborhood, which it calls one of three gang "hot spots" - along with Brentwood and Wyandanch-North Amityville - in the areas it patrols. Huntington Town officials, who were right to raise the alarm, now need to tone down the rhetoric and work with the police.
Two gang-related shooting deaths, in March and September, alarmed Huntington residents. The violence took place close enough to the Jack Abrams Intermediate School, grades 4 to 6, that worried parents are demanding action at public forums. The SCPD beefed up patrols last spring, but withdrew them at summer's end. The violence immediately re-erupted. If the department truly had the problem in hand, it should have anticipated the need for continued surveillance.
The SCPD is rightly responding now by ordering new gang and gun units into Huntington Station and discussing a relocation of the police shift-change station into the school.
Town Supervisor Frank Petrone says the police department isn't doing enough. His criticism is sound but tardy - remember, Election Day is less than two weeks away.
What's most important at this point is to create safer streets and school corridors. Officials should put the blame game aside. hN
