Since last fall the New Rochelle Police Department has quietly begun to put more cops on the street, at least briefly, in certain high crime areas including downtown New Rochelle and the area around Lockwood Avenue and North Avenue.

In a "Park and Walk" patrol, a police officer will leave his vehicle to walk a particular route in a problem area for about 30 minutes. During that time the officer is considered unavailable to respond to calls except in an emergency situation.

The initial response has been positive.

"Any program that provides more visibility in the downtown is a very good idea", said City Council Member Ivar Hyden whose district includes the city center. "I am favor of a police presence in downtown."

Some New Rochelle residents have been calling for a greater police presence in downtown New Rochelle for years including police on foot post and a downtown kiosk.

New Rochelle Police officers from the Special Investigations Unit raided the Elk's Club at 137 Lincoln Avenue in New Rochelle last month and made three arrests related to illegal gambling. On January 11th, New Rochelle police officers, acting on a complaint, executed a search warrant, confiscating gambling records and three video gambling machines.

Earl Bacon, 74, of 120 Remington Place in New Rochelle, NY was arrested and charged with two felonies, possession of gambling records in excess of $500 and promoting gambling, and a misdemeanor charge of possession of gambling devices.

Roland Hospie, 66, of 11 Park Avenue in Mount Vernon, NY and William Totten, 76, of 197 Drake Avenue in New Rochelle were both charged with two misdemeanor counts of promoting gambling and possession of gambling devices.

According to New Rochelle police, the Elk's Club was being used to run a "policy play" gambling operation where betters wager on a daily number, typically based on parimutuel betting at local race tracks.

When CVS came before the New Rochelle Zoning Board of Appeals, the company promised to put up surveillance video cameras outside their location at 222 North Avenue. Had they done so they might have been able to help police identify the vandals who spray painted various walls and doors in downtown New Rochelle over the holiday weekend.

There is now graffiti on the CVS, the carpet store, the wall in the Library parking lot and the New Rochelle library.

Less than one month into the New Year the New Rochelle Fire Department is finding itself stretched thin.

On January 5 over 20 people were forced to evacuate an apartment building at 342 North Avenue. Residents poured into the street while screaming for their children, three of whom were unaccounted for. A NRFD ladder company wound up rescuing the children, who were unharmed from 2 separate apartments.

This fire was caused by propane tanks next to garbage within the building’s main egress. It took 19 firefighters, or 70 percent of the city’s on duty firefighting contingent to battle the blaze.

On January 12, there was a 2 alarm fire at 44 Poplar Place. A number of residents, including an 88 year old woman escaped unharmed. That fire required the entire 27 person on duty contingent plus mutual aid from White Plains.

A taxi driver responding to a call on Charles Street in New Rochelle's West End was beaten and robbed last night.

When the taxi driver arrived to pick up the far he was attacked by an unknown number of young men. He was beaten with baseball bats. The assailants stole an unspecified amount of cash. The suspects were decided described as male/black. No further details were available at the time of publication.

This is the second baseball bat attack in New Rochelle in recent days. A woman was assaulted by three people wielding baseball bats last week.

Developing...

Although there was an arrest by the Pelham Police on Wednesday night of a male wanted by Yonkers Police for robbery, New York State Crime Stoppers, in cooperation with the Village of Pelham and City of New Rochelle, Town and Village of Mamaroneck as well as Harrison Police Departments continues to offer a cash reward of up to $2,500.00 for information directly leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or person(s) responsible for multiple armed robberies that have occurred along the New Haven line over the past few weeks.

“As the investigation by police continues, NYS Crime Stoppers is continuing to offer our reward and to remain hopeful that we will receive information that will put an end to the robberies of commuters in our communities” said Program Director Robert Keller.

In all of the robberies the suspect was described as a black male, 5’10 to 6’0” in height, with a medium build (175 to 200 lbs) wearing a black ski mask and dark clothing.

Bob Marrone may not be getting that invitation to Mayor Noam Bramson's holiday party come December after weighing in on the reality of crime in New Rochelle.

Despite his best efforts to sugarcoat the message, the message is clear. According to Marrone, New Rochelle residents are afraid and have good right to be: "residents are on edge…multiple armed attacks…denial…indicative of a reality we rarely talk about…tough, even dangerous, neighborhoods…do not yet give one the sense of security that we would like…inner city problems…gang activity."

Marrone posits several reasons why the recent spate of violent robberies in New Rochelle has gotten media attention over the past few weeks while ignoring the most obvious reason: Talk of the Sound.