http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18458487&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=590581&rfi=6
Sounds like these folks have definetely personified the spirit of citizens comeing together for a common defense.
NEW HAVEN — Tired of what they claim is lip service and hollow promises from the city and Police Department, Edgewood neighborhood residents said Monday they will take up weapons and start armed patrols of their own streets.
"For years, we have appealed to (Police) Chief Francisco Ortiz for officers on the beat here, but to no avail. After each mugging or robbery we get a few phone calls from the city and cosmetic cameo police involvement, but nothing serious happens," said Eliezer Greer, executive director of the Edgewood Neighborhood Association.
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Now, residents with handguns will start nightly patrols, they say, and Greer is calling for the ouster of Ortiz, maintaining the Police Department has failed in its duty to protect the citizens in the neighborhood.
"The EPDP will do what the Police Department has not done. We will provide safety and security in the evening hours for the families and children of the Edgewood Park neighborhood," said Greer.
Greer and his associates have accused the Police Department of abandoning community policing and forfeiting the neighborhood to the "gangs of marauding youths" but the idea of armed civilians providing neighborhood security is a new twist.
Messages left for Ortiz and Mayor John DeStefano Jr. were not immediately returned Monday.
Months ago, the association sent a letter to City Hall warning that armed civilian patrols were a possibility if the Police Department didn't start protecting the community. Greer said two people already obtained pistol permits in the event they had to make good on the pledge and others in the community already had permits to carry.
On Sunday, a rabbi was assaulted without provocation by three youths outside his Elm Street home. While he was not seriously injured, the incident triggered the group to take action, Greer said.
The Edgewood Park Defense Patrol, as the group calls itself, will start nightly patrols immediately, Greer said.
Greer's father, Rabbi Daniel Greer, runs the Gan School and in the last two decades has rehabilitated about 40 homes, most on the Edgewood neighborhood, over the last two decades. Eliezer Greer has been vocal at community meetings and critical of the Police Department's response to crime in the neighborhood.
Sounds like these folks have definetely personified the spirit of citizens comeing together for a common defense.
