Crime is down nearly 40 percent in Maybrook over the past three years, a drop Officer-in-Charge James Barnett attributes to the hiring of three full-timers and the current contingent of part-time police officers.

“When you have three full-timers working, coverage is better.  People see the same officers and get to know them and the officers get to know the community and it’s all a good thing.  And the part-timers we have now are also great.”

Discussing the three years of statistics at Monday’s Village Board meeting, Trustee Kevin Greany noted the “great job” done by the department.

Overall complaints dropped from 733 in 2007 to 451 in 2009.  Felony arrests were cut in half, from 14 to 7, with misdemeanor arrests falling from 77 to 40.  Assaults fell from 17 to 5.  Criminal mischief/vandalism went down from 42 to 22.  Disorderly conduct arrests fell from 20 to 10.  Larcenies went from 31 to 21.

Most other categories showed similar steep decreases.  Some of the few areas to show increases over the three-year period were speeding summonses (from 152 to 171) and domestic incidents (from 16 to 29).  Burglaries went from 3 to 11 but Barnett pointed out that of the 11 burglaries in 2009, 4 were unsuccessful attempts.  He also said the rise in burglaries might be because of the state of the economy.

Mayor Dennis Leahy was not at Monday’s Village Board meeting because he was attending the Valley Central School Board meeting to keep an eye on developments with the possible closing of the Maybrook Elementary School.

One casualty of that on-going debate is Maybrook’s police DARE officer.  With the continued operation of the school in doubt, village officials decided not to send Police Officer Michael Maresca to Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) training.  Officer Maresca was to become the elementary school’s DARE instructor, replacing the previous instructor from the Walden Police Department.

The training would have cost the village $300 and Maresca’s background as a substitute teacher made ideal to become the school’s DARE officer.

The village, however, decided that since the Valley Central School District may close Maybrook Elementary, it did not want to spend the $300 and possibly have no school in which Maresca would teach DARE.

Instead, the Village Board voted Monday night to renew the intermunicipal agreement with the Village of Walden, whose police department will continue providing a DARE officer to Maybrook.

By Audeen Moore