Transcription of Interview with Hempstead Mayor Wayne Hall

BG = Ben Golden
WH = Wayne Hall
Shot by Ken McCarron

BG (:00): This Terrace Avenue, they are given a second chance?

WH (:04): Yeah, the program is initiated by the D.A. and back this January. What happens is they pick seventeen drug dealers that were out on the streets dealing drugs and were caught on camera, on videotapes, they had the evidence right there and they sent them letters saying we know what you are doing; we want you to come to this meeting. If you come to this meeting, you won’t get arrested and out of the seventeen I think twelve of them came and at the meeting the D.A. told them we got you but we aren’t going to arrest you as long as you can go straight and I think what happened maybe two or three of them faltered and so now they are in jail and the others are out. I gave one of them a job here and she has been working now for about two weeks, this is her second week and she has been doing a good job so hopefully the program works but we’re still going to do our part in patrolling it. Patrolling Terrace Avenue we even got plate readers where we can read the car’s license plate so we know immediately where they live and say for instance you came over there and someone says hey what are you doing there, and read your license plate and send you a letter especially if you do not own the car and send it to that person. It may be in your parents name and we send it and it says you have been seen in the high crime high drug area and if you’re not there to buy illegal drugs, whatever the letter said, I think that has been a deterrent right there but the problem is to get the guns off the street because a lot of guns are being imported from Virginia. A lot of young people, I think the highest death rate for African American males is homicide and I also think that in the Hispanic community too. Guns for the African Americans to kill each other and knives over in the Hispanic community but I think initiatives and the addition of new police officers I think that you know they are trying to be more proactive than reactive and going after the crime. (2:52)

BG (2:53): Is there any one part, one area of crime that you see overwhelmingly over the others like is it homicide is it assault is it vandalism? Have you seen one area more than anything else? (3:07)

WH (3:08): Well I think with crime, I mean overall since last year, talking until up to last year, the crime rate has gone down about 9% overall, all crimes and everything but the one thing that has not gone down is the violent crime and when I say violent crime I mean assaults and things like that. I think rapes went down and so forth. But the violent crime, like I said, with the addition of the new police officers that may help but a lot of the violent crimes are domestic too things that happen inside houses and so forth so that is kind of difficult to control. But my goal is to change the image of what everybody thinks of Hempstead and I know that it can be a better place. Just because we are predominantly minorities here that does not mean we can’t have a nice community where everybody could walk through the community and feel safe so that’s what I’m working on. (4:16)

BG (4:17): Well thank you very much. (4:19)