Police Chief: Police Working to Step Up Patrols Without Raising Costs

Town Police Chief David Hegermiller said the Riverhead Police Department was working to increase their police prescence downtown after a series of violent crimes over the last few weeks led

Hegermiller said the police department would schedule more officers to work later shifts on patrol in the area, to reduce the cost of a step-up. He added that hiring more police officers was not on the table.

"We're flat broke. As a town we're flat broke," Hegermiller said in an interview on Wednesday. "The Supervisor said 'pay as we go,' so we're staffed at 85 [police officers]. We can handle it."

Hegermiller said by moving shifts around, the department could increase police prescence downtown without having to pay overtime fees to officers.

The push for more patrols comes after a string of violent crimes in the downtown Riverhead area, punctuated by Police said three men, one of whom was armed with a handgun, allegedly entered a home in downtown Riverhead Wednesday night and demanded money, then fled with a cell phone after one of the residents struggled with the burglars. Chief Hegermiller said the investigtion into the crime was still ongoing.

On Nov 11., 18-year-old Juan F. Soyos-Pixtun, of Flanders,  on West Main Street and in Polish Town on Nov. 4 and 10. Both victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to recover. Soyos-Pixtun is being held on $500,000 bail.

Just two days later on Nov. 13, two unknown men wearing hooded sweatshirts and bandanas over their faces , stealing between $800 and $900 according to the store's owner, who later criticized police for taking seven minutes to arrive at his store despite being just across the street at Town Hall. Police are still searching for the two suspects.

Hegermiller said the two shootings around town were "something very hard to control."

"If you have someone going out there to shoot someone, the only way the police could prevent it is if they're right there at that time," Hegermiller said. "It's more a social service issue."

Hegermiller said the robbery suspects remain at large.

"I had hoped that would have been solved a lot sooner," Hegermiller said. The suspects were caught on surviellence video, according to the store's owner, but Hegermiller said the men were wearing masks.

"They were pretty well disguised," he said. "It was hard to [identify them]."

Still, Hegermiller was confident in his department's ability to deal with the sudden rash of crime downtown.

"As they say, every town and every village has their fair share of crime," he said.