To the Editor:
Riverhead residents have been asking the Town Board to adopt policies requiring town police to document ICE activity and arrests in our community. Their concerns about the safety of their families and neighbors have been met with silence and inaction.
Yet the town can act quickly when it wants to.
In the week before the Nov. 5 Town Board meeting, Councilman Rothwell raised a concern about residents being intimidated in the Town Hall parking lot. The captain of the police department was contacted, and an officer was dispatched to the scene. The senior investigator for the town’s Code Enforcement Division was consulted, and a code enforcement officer was brought in. An impromptu meeting between Rothwell and the town supervisor took place. The town attorney was consulted and promptly stated an intended change to the Town Code.
All this due to the presence of two middle-aged white women behind a folding table.
A Town Board member doesn’t hesitate to pull multiple levers of government to address his political concern. Meanwhile, residents asking the board to address concerns about their physical safety are still waiting.
When town officials don’t hesitate to use town resources to address their own political concerns, is it unreasonable for residents to expect them to address our safety concerns?
Colin Tooker
Riverhead
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