Crime & Safety

Port Jeff Constables Presence Increases at LIRR

Code officers instructed to meet trains and walk platforms.

Commuters may have noticed a change at the in Port Jefferson. For the last two months, village constables have been meeting trains as they come into the station and walking the platform to help bolster the security in the area.

“We try to meet every train," said Constable Chief Wally Tomaszewski. "It makes it a little safer.”

He said that during the daytime there isn't much of an issue but at nighttime the code officers sometimes deal with shooing the homeless out of the area and the occasional drunk.

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Tomaszewski said that the commuters have thanked his staff for the extra security effort.

“They love it," he said. "Especially the village residents who use the train.”

Find out what's happening in Port Jeffersonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The new initiative has been going on for about a month and a half, ever since the village received complaints from people who were being bothered by vagrants and drunks around the train station.

Tomaszewski said that code officers order people who do not belong at the train station to leave.

"If they fail to do so we give them appearance tickets that comes with up to a $500 fine," he said. "If they get to court and they don’t pay then a warrant is issued for their arrest."

He said that officers have given out a few tickets, mostly for public urination and open alcohol but the biggest deterrent is the code officer himself. Most will leave the station on their own when they see the constables coming.

“They pretty much know when they see a uniformed officer,” he said.

Have you noticed the extra code enforcement at the train station? Do you think it's helping?


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