Cooper 'action plan' targets Huntington Station violence

Responding to demands by residents to improve crime-fighting in Huntington Station, Suffolk Majority Leader Jon Cooper Tuesday unveiled an "action plan" that includes opening a police substation in the community, expanding a surveillance camera program, and purchasing a device that can pinpoint when and where a gunshot has been fired.

Standing in front of a blighted building on New York Avenue that the Town of Huntington plans to condemn, Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor) said he intends to introduce the three resolutions at next week's Suffolk legislative meeting.

"We need to take a holistic approach to crime in our community," Cooper said. Residents are "tired of promises," he said. "They want to see concrete action."

His announcement followed on the heels of three recent shootings in the area and the closing last month of the local Jack Abrams School.

Huntington will soon open a community outreach center on Lowndes Avenue that will house four code enforcement officers, maintain a hotline and be staffed by a county police officer - a plan announced last week by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and Huntington Supervisor Frank Petrone.

Cooper's plan to open a substation in the vicinity of Jack Abrams would be in addition to that center. A similar police annex was closed in 2006.

Levy said in an interview that the plan - devised by the county and town and announced last week - to staff the outreach center with an officer needs a chance to work first.

Cooper said placing an additional 15 to 20 surveillance cameras in high-crime areas, including but not limited to Huntington Station, would enhance the 28 cameras already installed under the county's Safe Communities Initiative. The cost would be about $60,000, said Cooper, noting he has support from his colleagues for the measure. Levy also said he supports the proposal.

Cooper also wants the county to purchase a ShotSpotter gunshot locator system, which can immediately place the source of a gunshot. Cooper said the system has worked well in Nassau County, which was confirmed by a spokesman for the county's police department, but Levy said there is not enough empirical data to show it deters crime or leads to arrests.