Hempstead tries to deal with jump in violent crime

A guard is shot in the head, fatally, at a bar. A teenager on his way home is stabbed on the street. A melee at the high school forces early dismissal.

These scenes unfolded within 48 hours last month in Hempstead Village, a community of 54,000 that saw a 41 percent jump in violent crime reports from 2008 to 2009, from 341 incidents to 482, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Community leaders are stunned by the recent crimes, including one in which the Hempstead fire chief and his friend were charged with frisking the stepson of a village trustee at gunpoint. They are urging village officials to take new steps to fight violence they say is out of control.

Some, like Hempstead Coordinating Council of Civic Associations president Reggie Lucas, are asking police to increase patrolling. Others, such as S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth executive director Sergio Argueta, advocate that more money be set aside for programs for at-risk youth.

To address community concerns, Mayor Wayne Hall has organized a public safety meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Hempstead library.

"We want more police involvement, more visible, more responsive to the community," Lucas said.

Hall and police Chief Joseph Wing said community policing suffered while the force was understaffed for two years, saying they were hamstrung by the lack of a county civil service list. But with the recent hiring of 17 officers, eight of whom started work last month, more police will be on patrol.

"It seems like there's a misconception out there that the Hempstead police and the mayor's office is not doing anything to stem the tide of crime," said Hall, who, after his grandnephew's death in a Brooklyn shooting in December, pledged to crack down on gun and youth crimes in Hempstead.

Andrew Karmen, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, said that, beyond statistics and staffing, communities need to address poverty, failing schools, and a shortage of youth programs to make a dent in crime. "I believe that larger social conditions are responsible for the level of crime in our communities," he said.

Argueta, who has attended nearly 30 wakes for young people killed on Long Island, said the village must awaken residents who have become desensitized to violence. "We've been losing kids here in Hempstead for some time now," he said. "People have become immune and numb to the loss . . . because if you're touched by every death, you go crazy."