PREFACE:
"Dear Patchogue Village Police,
Thank you for doing such a marvelous job...while three of your finest were sitting at Ralph's last night enjoying a refreshing Italian ice, my husband and I were around the corner being harrassed by a posse of drunk a**holes, one of whom tried to grope me."
The above statement is what I would say to the Patchogue Village Police if I could ever find them!! If they are not parked outside of 7-11 getting coffee, they are on the exact opposite side of town when an incident is occurring.
I've written on Patchogue Patch in the past about the drunken buffoonery taking place on Main Street, but last night I was met with it head-on (or should I say, boob-on). Here is what happened:
Last evening, Sunday, August 11, 2013, I was taking an after dinner walk with my husband at around 9-9:30PM. We walked past the parking lot of Ralph's Italian Ice and noticed that 3 members of the Patchogue Village Police were sitting outside of Ralph's socializing, sitting at a table, away from their patrol cars and very visibly not doing their jobs.
A little miffed, but nevertheless, we proceeded to enjoy our walk.
My husband and I continued on our way, west on Main Street and back down south to South Ocean Avenue. We were then approached by 3 men, one of whom was heavily intoxicated (we noticed him standing in the middle of the road earlier near Bravo market, looking as if he were lost or drunk). My husband's instinct was to walk me towards the inside of the sidewalk and let the men pass, however the intoxicated man approached me head on and proceeded to try and lift my dress and touch my chest.
My husband was at a cross roads: should he take matters into his own hands and punch this guy's lights out, or calmly try and locate the Village Police and have them take care of it? We decided on the latter, quickly going back to Ralph's to see if the patrol were still there, which they weren't.
We proceeded to walk back to our apartment, where I then called Suffolk County Police to report the incident.
Why do we have the Village Police if they are not even patrolling main street on a summer night when the bars are still open and heavily occupied? Are we really employing them to eat ice cream and chit chat on a weekend night when Main Street is still bustling?
Last night, in that moment, I felt alone, scared...and almost betrayed by the public safety who is intended to be there for situations just like this.
I sent an email to Mayor Pontiere explaining the incident and asking him to please re-evaluate the policies and procedures for keeping our town safe at night, especially when the bars and restaurants are open and people are out walking at night. I was with my husband this time, but what if I wasn't? What if I was like that poor woman who got attached a couple of weeks back...
Clearly, the "system" we have in place now is not working.
