Businesses seek increased police presence

Longtime restaurant owner John Sarno, whose family has also owned Budget Buy & Sell as well as the building at the Four Corners, recently suggested that Patchogue’s Main Street has been seeing an ever-increasing decline in safety. 

“We have enjoyed a nice 15-year turnaround, but I’m afraid we are returning to the dark days of the early ’90s,” he said, “as someone who’s been a witness to the last days of its glory in the ’80s when sidewalk sales and retail were jamming.”

Sarno applauded mayor Paul Pontieri for his hand in turning the village around, but as the restaurant committee chair, he said, he felt a duty to speak up. 

However, according to mayor Pontieri, he felt that while Main Street safety and providing surveillance and code enforcement officers was a necessary priority, it was ultimately up to the restaurant and bar owners to manage their patrons properly.

“They overserve people and put them out on the street. We [the village] can’t control what happens inside the bars; they have to control it. When drunk people are put on the street, bad stuff happens. The owners are expecting us to solve a problem they are creating and it’s frustrating,” Pontieri said bluntly. 

If it were up to him, he said, he would instill a curfew to have all bars close between 1 and 1:30 a.m. However, curfew is regulated by New York State Liquor Authority and under the New York State Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) allows bars and restaurants to serve alcohol until 4 a.m.

Sarno explained that the restaurant committee has requested a moratorium on allowing more bars/restaurants in the village numerous times as a potential solution. 

“There are too many, and there is still no parking solution despite the many options we have presented only to be denied (check valet for one),” he added, noting the increase in people and foot traffic without an increase in patrol. “The lack of police patrol is a problem. Parking tickets and peeing in public is a priority, but not the welfare of a resident or patron. If things aren’t addressed ASAP, we will return to the early ’90s with empty storefronts and vagrants everywhere, and all the hard work of everyone will be for naught.” 

However, Pontieri said although a moratorium is easily placed, he and the board do not agree with it and once it ends, the issue returns.

“How do you tell an owner of a building what they can and can’t do?” he said. 

Still, issues, according to Sarno, have spanned from vagrancy, harassment, and more.

“We have one man who always has his hands constantly on his genitals, harasses people who walk and jog in the morning. We have another lady who sat in a bench outside the VIP room with no pants on,” he said, noting other business owners have experienced the same issues.

Lori Belmonte, owner of The Colony Shop, confirmed the issues and said just last week, she called 911 due to issues with a homeless person outside her shop and police did not arrive for 40 minutes.

“We have a lot of homeless and some of them are harmless, but this woman, she was not saying nice things to people walking by,” Belmonte said. Also, she said, she was drinking alcohol. “Something needs to be done.”

Back in 2017, the village passed a new code to limit aggressive panhandling to protect people from threatening, intimidating or harassing behavior, while also keeping public places safe. However, according to the village, vagrancy is a difficult thing to control, because it brings up First Amendment issues. And though panhandling is not in itself illegal, it’s not that it’s done, but rather how it’s done.

Also, due to the safety concern issues, Belmonte said, most of the retailers don’t stay open at night anymore in an effort to pre-emptively stay safe.

Sarno and other business owners have since requested an increased Suffolk County Police Department presence on Main Street to help combat and deter the unpleasant behaviors, especially at night and on weekends. He also noted he has plans to meet with Suffolk County Legis. Dominick Thorne to help address the issues.

According to Thorne, he plans to first meet with the SCPD Fifth Precinct inspector to discuss the topic, then schedule a meeting with the inspector and the business owners to find solutions and to work in coordination to address the issues.

“The county is going to help at the end of the day. We will work with the business owners to work as a team,” he said. “Patchogue Village has more police protection than anywhere else [in the precinct district]; they have their own car on Main Street that never leaves. We have done a lot to provide public safety.”

Despite agreeing that a more coordinated effort is required to help manage safety on Main Street, Thorne said, he is not aware of an actual uptick in crime, rather than just what naturally happens with the summer months and areas saturated with alcohol consumption.

“I want to be clear: I am not being complacent about it. I don’t believe it’s a lack of police protection, but that more needs to be done to be a coordinated effort with store owners, which I also care a great deal about,” he said, also noting that the county has added “thousands” of police to the force in the last six years.

According to the SCPD, they do not give out numbers of patrol officers in specific areas due to safety reasons. However, they released the following statement:

“Year round, the Fifth Precinct has a dedicated unit of officers assigned to patrol the Village of Patchogue during high-volume times. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, additional personnel are assigned to the village, Thursday through Saturday evenings.”

Additionally, the Village of Patchogue, according to director of public safety director Jim Berberich, has about 25 to 30 public safety officers on staff. They dispatch about eight daily with more on weekends. However, they are limited to code violations, which include open alcohol and public urinations.

“[We] work well alongside SCPD, who provide an increased presence on weekend nights to address the conditions,” he said.