Quality of life takes center stage in Hempstead Town

serving as a police officer in the New York City Police Department and the police departments of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for 22 years, I saw firsthand the effectiveness of the “broken windows” model of policing. This theory on policing suggests that visible signs of crime and disorder encourage further crime and disorder — especially serious crimes.

cashless bail and the “Raise the Age” statute, has broken the windows of our community, and it’s our responsibility as elected officials to fix these windows. Although the Town of Hempstead doesn’t have its own police force, we do have hardworking CSEA Local 880 employees who know how to get the job done.

ing on this, I partnered with Clavin and the Town Board in expanding this task force to protect the quality of life in our township.

Carini

The theory proposes that having police enforce minor crimes, such as graffiti, public drinking, trespassing and fare evasion, will create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness. This model proved effective in New York City, when the city was transformed from the murder capital of the country in the 1990s to record low crime rates in the 2000s.

Albany’s soft-on-crime approach, with

The Town of Hempstead will be doing our part to help restore quality of life by tackling local community issues such as graffiti and illegal advertisements — and Supervisor Don Clavin and I created a Quality-of-Life Task Force whose sole responsibility will be to right these wrongs. By actively targeting minor offenses and keeping our township clean and pristine, we are taking a proactive step to discourage further illegal activity.

Since my days as a civic leader, I have battled these very same quality-of-life problems that deteriorate neighborhoods and bring down home values. I brought this initiative with me to the town, and formed a graffiti task force to quickly eradicate any reported graffiti. Capitaliz-