Joint Police Unit to Fight Home Invasions on L.I.

By BRUCE LAMBERT

GARDEN CITY, N.Y., Oct. 19 - Home invasions by masked robbers with guns have shaken the image of safety in the Long Island suburbs and led the police in Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Wednesday to announce the formation of a joint unit to stop the crimes.

While such crimes have occurred sporadically for years, 46 cases have been reported on Long Island this year, and some have followed a pattern suggesting that a team is at work, according to investigators.

"This has really created fear in a lot of our communities, and we want to allay that fear," said Nassau's police commissioner, James H. Lawrence. His Suffolk counterpart, Richard Dormer, said, "Even my wife is scared."

The commissioners spoke at a news conference here on Wednesday to announce that a two-county unit will investigate the 46 cases.

Investigators are focusing on a group of similar invasions, eight in Nassau and three in Suffolk, and there are also five similar invasions in Brooklyn and Queens they are checking into. Those in Nassau occurred in a mid-county strip across New Hyde Park, Manhasset, Jericho and Plainview and in the southeast in Bellmore and Massapequa.

The invasions have become a volatile issue in Nassau's elections, as police unions and county officials debate crime rates, police staffing, contract costs and claims of false and illegal campaign advertising.

The Nassau County executive, Thomas R. Suozzi, a Democrat whose re-election bid is under attack in union commercials accusing him of cutting police services, said at the news conference: "This is the safest place in the United States of America, and we want this to stay the safest place in the United States of America."

Since Jan. 1, there have been 29 home invasions in Nassau, but only 17 in the comparable period last year; there were 17 in Suffolk. No deaths or serious injuries have resulted, but families have been terrified as robbers have broken in or forced their way inside their homes.

"It's frightening," said John W. Both, a physiologist in Manhasset who was awakened about 3:30 a.m. last month by a commotion when a family across the street scared off intruders and police cars converged.

Since then, Mr. Both and his wife have put some of their jewelry in a safe deposit box and had duplicates of others made. After talking over things, he said, they decided that if their home was invaded, "we would let them take what they want" and "not fight back with people who have guns." At night, "you see a lot more lights on in the neighborhood," he said.

Security companies report increased calls in recent days from residents signing up for new alarms for doors and windows or installing motion detectors and special wireless telephones. Installation costs can range from several hundred dollars to a few thousand, and monthly monitoring charges range from $20 to $50.

"People are taking it very seriously," said Andrew W. Lowitt, vice president of Lowitt Alarms and Security Systems. Frank Mallimo, a supervisor at Meenan Security Services, said, "People don't want to be victimized."

The police officials at the news conference urged that residents report anything unusual, lock doors and windows, close drapes and blinds, and keep lights on inside and outside. In an invasion, the police say victims should turn over valuables without resistance.

Citing F.B.I. statistics, Mr. Suozzi said that crime had dropped to a 30-year low in Nassau and that his county was the nation's safest community with a population of one million or more.

The Nassau Police Benevolent Association has spent $500,000 in attacking Mr. Suozzi and some of his Democratic running mates in the County Legislature with television commercials, mailings and signs accusing them of cutting services and jeopardizing public safety.

Mr. Suozzi says the unions are retaliating because he insisted on concessions in contracts to rescue Nassau from near-bankruptcy, like moving the 11 a.m. qualifying time for night differential to 3 p.m. Nassau police are among the nation's highest paid, averaging $110,000 a year with overtime for a work schedule about seven weeks shorter than in private business, county officials say. After 20 years, officers can retire at half pay, with a termination check of about $200,000.

Mr. Suozzi has lashed out at the police union's president, Gary DelaRaba, over an arbitration award raising his salary to $175,000 on the ground that he lost overtime and promotion pay because of union duties. Mr. DelaRaba's salary is $66,000 more than Mr. Suozzi's and $20,000 more than the police commissioner's.

Democratic Party leaders have sponsored a lawsuit accusing the union of violating campaign finance laws. The party's county chairman, Jay S. Jacobs, said, "The P.B.A. is supposed to be enforcing the law, not breaking the law."

Democrats hold only a bare one-vote majority in the Legislature. Their most vulnerable incumbent, David Mejias, whose district has more Republicans than Democrats, said union mailings portraying him as raising taxes and cutting police levels were "lying about my record."

Mr. DelaRaba defended the union's campaign as truthful, saying of the Democrats, "Maybe they can't handle the truth."