Three Roosevelt Island Burglaries At Manhattan Park Yesterday - Crime Prevention Tips From RIOC Public Safety Department Director McManus
Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Public Safety Department Director John McManus shares these Crime Prevention tips with our community.
Earlier today, I asked Director McManus:
A MESSAGE FROM YOUR PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT
Crime Prevention tips for our island residents:
1. Keep front doors, patio doors and windows locked. If you have a patio, Burglar-proof your glass patio doors by setting a pipe or metal bar in the middle bottom track of the door slide. The pipe should be the same length as the track.
2. Have your key ready before you approach your apartment door. Don't leave extra keys under doormats, potted plants or any other obvious outdoor location. Burglars will generally find them. Find an inconspicuous place to hide the keys, or give a set to a neighbor you can trust
3. Store cash, jewelry and other valuables in a safe or safety deposit box instead of leaving them lying around the home.
4. Do not leave notes on the door for service people or family members when you are not there. These alert the burglar that you are not home.
5. Be sure to use a dead bolt lock on your doors.
6. Look through your door peep hole before answering the door.
7. Use the door chain when answering and before opening the door.
8. Be sure your apartment door is dead bolt locked before retiring for the night or leaving your apartment.
9. Do not open the door for strangers until you have established their identity and purpose.
10. If you cannot establish their identity, call the PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT at (212) 832- 4545. We are open 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
11. Report any suspicious persons loitering or soliciting to the PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT.
12. Be aware of your surroundings.
13. Lock your door immediately upon entering your apartment.
14. Be sure the entrance outside your apartment door is well lit.
15. If you feel unsafe during late hours, call the PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT and we will walk you to your residence.
LET’S KEEP OUR COMMUNITY SAFE!
John B. McManus, Director
Can you provide additional information regarding the burglaries reported at 10 and 30 River Road yesterday. Are they related?Mr. McManus replied:
07/08/13 - 2245 - 10 River Road - Burglary - PSD & NYPD responded - Report Filed.
07/08/13 - 2250 - 10 River Road - Burglary - PSD & NYPD responded - Report Filed
07/08/13 - 2255 - 30 River Road - Burglary - PSD & NYPD responded - Report Filed.
Also, what happened at this assault - any weapons used and was anyone injured?
07/09/13 - 0630 - 579 Main St - Assault - Refused NYPD - Report Filed.
We are investigating the possibility that these burglaries are related. We are working side by side with our partners from the 114th precinct to address these incidents. A part of that effort is crime prevention, which would include getting the type of information contained in the accompanying flyer...
UPDATE 7/11 - RIOC Public Safety Incident Report indicates a burglary yesterday at Roosevelt Landings:
07/10/13 - 2302 - 560 Main St - Burglary - PSD & NYPD responded - Report filed.
35 comments :
So you get your home robbed at Manhattan Park, the tires stolen off of your car in the garage, and you get shot at the deli. Nice.
Manhattan Park needs to whip the folks that man the doorstations into shape. Ever since they got rid of the dedicated intercom system they wave anybody and everybody in w/o many questions asked. Now they rely on the fact that every tenant supplies a telephone number so they can call upstairs. My experience is that very few have actually done that.
True, they should toughen up. Although, hard to know how anyone would respond without more info from PSD. Did someone climb the scaffolding? Break down the door? walk into an open apartment? Steal from the laundry room!?!?! The report is the equivalent of just saying "heads up!"
I wonder whether anyone has linked the crimes at Manhattan Park to the ongoing construction project, including the closure of River Road, the blindspots created by the prolonged scaffolding and/or the workers on this prolonged project. I also wonder whether the workers on the project have provided felony background checks to the contractors or even whether they are undocumented workers.
Finally, it's time we had a PSD booth at the top of the helix, just as we did years ago. This could help weed out potential trouble makers trying to get into Motorgate or onto the island.
They need a proper intercom system and retraining for their doormen. The system should not depend on a call to the phone number. Rivercross has one that is tied to the apt. number.
It's called lack of proper maintenance, monitoring and training for building personnel and PSD. We need more security cameras. We need a way to verify who is coming across the bridge...i.e. a security booth atop the helix that can alert PSD when suspicious crowds or clusters of people attempt to walk here. We need to stop being so friendly to off islanders who want to use the barbecue grills and instead put the screws onto to off-islanders. We need PSD to pick on outsiders in crowds, not individuals waiting for a friend in the lobby or at a side door of a building.
As an MP resident, I'm very interested to learn more about these break-ins. I echo all the comments that the front desk attendants in each building need to be much more vigilant, and ask every visitor who they are visiting and call the apartment before allowing someone up on the elevator. I realize that these positions are concierges and not doormen, but this seems to be a somewhat important part of the job.
I am curious if these break-ins were aided by the Local Law 11 facade work- if people scaled the scaffolding and then walked into the apartments via the windows or balconies. I hope that both MP and public safety provide more information as there is a greater community impact here; giving out tips on how to prevent break-ins is just a start.
Just keep on paying those big nyc rents lol
I am sure these people can well afford to replace the the missing items
I would, but I spent all of my money on YOUR rent.
Sad to say but the psd probably needs to I corporate vertical patrols in manhattan park now. Sad because MH park never allowed us to perform random vertical patrols within. If it was theft in a laundry room it would not be burglary, it would be petit or grand larceny depending on the item type and value.
Also just a quick nitpick. Robbery is theft from a person with force. Burglary is from a home.
Great idea, but I locked up a burglar when I was a public safety officer who was an friend of the apartment lease holder. As a matter of fact I personally locked up two burglars. One was in the act breaking the lock in 546. The other one was observed by the apartment lease holder, ran away and was captured with a canvass.
So, how are the officers going to read minds? We cannot possibly know every resident here. It's not our job to know everyone, honestly it's not. It's difficult to. Our job is to protect and perform enforcement functions, you know, just like the police.
I also two weeks ago locked up a Roosevelt island resident who has a very prominent family, graduated from a very respected ny college and who's family live in one of the so called nice buildings for grand larceny. So what is my point. You really don't know your neighbors.
I understand where you ate coming from but unfortunately these burglaries were most likely the acts of an island resident. And even if it wasn't,having Psd at the helix would do no good. How are they supposed to distinguish a vehicle as being an off island resident,or someone who has bad intentions? Seriously think about it. What would having Psd at the top of the ramp do?
Crime seems to be substantially up on the Island and getting more and more serious. What's the plan to manage the wave we've been experiencing here? Would love to hear from the interim security chief.
See, another resident using the word security for public safety. Psd are not security guards. Hence he is the director for public safety, not security.
Public safety officers are sworn law enforcement officers, not guards who observe and report to the police.
That will do no Damn good. You are SIMPLY assuming that everyone that comes on the island is walking across the bridge and you are wrong. Do you know how many cars cross that bridge daily? The answer is a lot. So again,having a booth atop will do nothing. And even if you did,some residents will start to complain that Psd is harassing them and so on.
I also don't like your idea of picking on outsiders. Trust me from first hand experience, you have plenty of fellow residents who are trouble makers and are criminals. Don't take it personal but you, the sheeple of Roosevelt island fail to acknowledge this issue.
First hand I am telling you that you should worry about your neighbors before calling out the outsiders.
Semantics...
It is not semantics. A security guard is a security guard. You don't rely on a dentist to perform surgery on your kidney, do you?
Seriously dude try and be a human being, this shouldn't happen to everyone. BTW Manhattan Park is not some luxury development, it families who missed out on ML apartments.
If you some unhappy with your economic state get off your ass and do something your Archie Bunker of Roosevelt Island routine is getting old.
YetAnotherRIer: Westview/Island House had a rash of burglaries circa 1995. It turned out to be a Westview/Island House resident. Management changed the way tenants accessed the building, with doorman call-ups. The vertical patrols helped with other problems in the building. A couple tips (in addition to what McManus provided):
- Organize a tenants association (or two) for the M-P complex. Initially Westview and Island House were a single tenants association, we split in the late 1990's. Having a tenants association can be very helpful for working on things that require cooperation among management and tenants.
- Culture can be a problem with different expectations and patterns ... not just international culture, but college culture, too. For example, some cultural habits need to change (e.g., thinking it is acceptable to toss garbage on the floor; or keeping live poultry in an apartment),
- Tenants need to learn to NOT open doors for strangers. Yes, it feels terribly impolite, but this can be a significant security problem.
- The "nooks and crannies" of the building need to be scrutinized. For Island House, we found several access points via laundry rooms and some emergency exits. A security firm can do an audit to discover these kinds of things.
- Be careful how you let strangers exit the building. Upon arrival, insist that they exit via the main entrance, not an emergency exit. It gives the building staff a better sense of who is in the building, and visitors get a stronger sense they are being tracked in the common areas.
Again, having a tenants association can smooth over necessary changes that require tenants' acceptance, e.g., locking a laundry room door improved security, but no longer allowed tenants to step out for a smoke while waiting for their laundry.
It doesn't help that during the day our apartments are completely exposed to the construction workers. As a stay at home mom, with two small children, it is very creepy to have these men in my window all day long! I have lowered the blinds repeatedly, and try to keep exposure to a minimum, but they can completely evaluate what is in my apartment, when I am home or out for the most part, etc.. It could be an island resident, but who knows the background of these workers?! They are most certainly not professional, since the construction has been going on for almost a year, and it does not seem to look like it's ending any time soon! We should definitely have patrol/security circling MP, especially at night!
Maybe that's why MP management is ti p toeing. They wont respond to inquiry "until they know all of the details". Even the guys at the front desk have not been told anything.
"It turned out to be a Westview/Island House resident."
I thought about that, too, but unless it is a big coincidence, apartments in two separate buildings were broken in.
Don't be so paranoid. How about having a talk with the workers or their foremen? I did to make myself confortable with the situation.
Front door security is a joke. I dont know how many times I have walked into the lobby with absolutely nobody there. Just carry a pizza and you can go anywhere in the building.
Half the apartments in this city are either rent stabilized or rent controlled.and i dont have either. Housing prices are increasing faster than incomes. The middle class is being pushed out of new york.so that makes me a slave to sec 8.Which you are paying for
Agreed. Ever since they switched over to BuildingLink and tossed out the dedicated intercom system between front desk and tenants things got worse. I am not sure if it is the staff or the fact that tenants have to supply personal phone numbers or what not. It sure needs to be addressed, though.
As I recall, there were break-ins in both buildings. The person involved lived in one of Westview or Island House, and he was going back and forth to his friend in the other building (so he was familiar to both buildings). So whether he lived in IH and the friend lived in WV, or vice versa, that part my memory is fuzzy. In those days, Westview and Island House were much closer and functioned somewhat as a single building complex.
Sorry for my awkward phrasing in the post above.
The attached was posted in the lobby tonight when I came home, from 114th Precinct, not PSD.
ATTENTION RESIDENTS
There have been several residential burglaries in this area where entry has been gained through the rear windows, fire escape windows and front doors. These burglaries are occurring during daytime hours.
If you see any suspicious individuals, please call 911 immediately.
If you are interested in having a crime prevention specialist survey your home or apartment, contact the 114th Precinct Crime Prevention Officer / Community Affairs Unit at (718) 626-9324 or (718) 626-9327.
Read todays ny post. Page two avg. Rent in nyc 3000per month. This is why your are paying my rent
Yes Bill, that amount includes the subsidy provided by your neighbors to help cover the true, yet unmet cost of your unit.
PSD Incident report indicates burglary yesterday at Roosevelt Landings 560 Main Street
Do not feed the trolls
The number of home burglaries traditionally spike in the summer months. I think that light timers and Fake TV (www.faketv.com) are good solutions to deter burglars. Also, playing anti-theft home occupancy sounds MP3 or a CD (sells on Amazon or at http://www.webensource.com/burglar_deterrent_cd/ ) in home while away is a great way to scare burglar that someone is in.
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