Editorials

Editorial: Town police have been everywhere

Riverhead PoliceFrom Riverhead to Mastic, Wading River and South Jamesport, it seemed as if town police were everywhere at once this past week.

A steady stream of high-profile crimes began last Wednesday morning with an alleged burglary at an East Main Street gas mart and an attempted armed robbery at CVS on Route 58. In the CVS case, the suspects fled on foot before cops could arrive. But it didn’t take police long to track the suspects to a farm field and take them into custody. Three men were charged and the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case believes they may have been involved in other pharmacy robberies in Suffolk. We’ll learn more when a grand jury indictment is unsealed.

In the gas station burglary, responding officers used the help of a K-9 cop to corner a suspect who was still inside the building when they arrived, according to police. He was arrested on the spot.

Cops again called for a police dog when tracking a suspect accused of burglarizing a South Jamesport home Thursday and crashing a getaway van before fleeing on foot.

Then on Sunday, police tracked a man accused of stabbing his girlfriend at Tanger Outlets  Saturday night to Mastic, where he was apprehended the next day.

In between we saw a burglary bust in Wading River that also ended in Mastic and a handful of DWI arrests, among others that didn’t make the paper.

Congratulating police could be seen as celebrating a glass half full. A conversation could instead focus on why so many people now find themselves desperate enough to commit such crimes in town — and what can be done to identify and address contributing problems within our communities.

But that’s not the job of the police department. The police are paid to enforce the law. And they’re doing a fine job of it.