Reports of crimes involving guns have become all too frequent occurrences in the City of Newburgh these days. This past week, in fact, officers recovered two weapons on the same day (Jan. 7), one of them stashed in a baby stroller in an apartment hallway on William Street.

In the baby stroller case, members of the City Police Department Neighborhood Stabilization Team was on patrol at William and Renwick streets shortly at 6:25 p.m. when they began questioning two men loitering in front of 123 William St.
While the officers were questioning the men, two other officers noticed the common hallway door to the residence was ajar, As a result of prior police activity at the location, officers entered the hallway. What they discovered, was a loaded Inter Arms .44-caliber magnum handgun in plain view in a baby stroller. There were no suspects in the hallway and officers also discovered a brown shipping box with glassine envelopes and other materials consistent with that used in heroin sales.
Earlier that same day, at 2:54 a.m. an officer and his K-9 companion observed what the officer said was the muzzle flash of a weapon being fired. The officer then said he heard what appeared to be five shots fired on City Terrace. A police chase ensued, during which officers said a weapon was thrown from a car and later recovered by police officers. The suspect was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment, both felonies.

On Dec. 31, police investigating a reported altercation between two men were told that one of the men had a gun. During a foot chase, the weapon was tossed and later recovered by officers. The suspect was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon and other lesser charges.

Repeatedly, we report incidents where fugitives fleeing police officers toss weapons from cars, or over fences as they are chased through back yards in the City of Newburgh.

Last month, officers recovered weapons on back-to-back days on Dec. 7 and 8. In the second of those cases, Officer Anthony Giudice was injured while chasing the suspect over barbed wire fences in the rear yards of homes on Lander Street.

Officers later recovered a loaded chrome H&R .32-caliber revolver that the suspect was believed to have thrown away during his pursuit.

The suspect was charged withg criminal use of a firearm, first-degree robbery, gang assault and resisting arrest. The first three charges are felonies and the suspect was sent to Orange County Jail on $250,000 bail.

The use of guns in criminal activity in the City of Newburgh has become so common that the City’s crime analyst, Andrew Vey, has created a detailed map showing what the Police Department has been dealing with since Dec. 1.

The Newburgh Police Department seized 47 handguns (just handguns; that doesn’t count long guns) during 2009. Of those 47, 20 (43 percent) were recovered since Oct. 1, and 11 in October alone.

“The last three months of the year really showed an increase for us,” said Lt. Charles Broe Sr. “Unfortunately the trend seems to be continuing on into the New Year,” he said.

Police Chief Eric Paolilli is vowing “to intensify our efforts to deal with gun violence, by using a multifaceted approach to deal with the rise in gun activity on the streets of Newburgh.

“This includes a continued analysis of the raw data that we have and continue to compile, along with directed enforcement efforts.”

Broe declined to elaborate on those efforts, suggesting that criminals will find out, the hard way.

By ALLAN GAUL
agaul@tcnewspapers.com