Online Petition Calls For Traffic Cops To Return To Greenwich Avenue

GREENWICH, CT — While it has been almost five years since traffic cops were removed from Greenwich's most iconic stretch of roadway, a new petition is circulating online calling for their reinstatement to "Make Greenwich Avenue Safe Again."

However, First Selectman Fred Camillo last Friday quickly dismissed the effort during his weekly radio spot "Ask the First Selectman" with host Tony Savino on WGCH.

"They can do that all they want, it's never going to happen," Camillo said when asked about the petition.

Officers were redeployed on Greenwich Avenue in 2020 around the time the COVID-19 pandemic hit intending to make public safety more streamlined and efficient, town officials have said.

Instead of having officers anchored and directing traffic, unable to readily respond to calls for assistance on the Avenue, the town equipped officers with bicycles who patrol up and down the Avenue and on side streets. Uniformed officers also returned to walking a beat on the Avenue, along with plainclothes officers.

The redeployment received the endorsement from Greenwich Police Chief James Heavey.

Opponents have argued that the redeployment abandons tradition and decreases safety for motorists and pedestrians along the busy .65-mile stretch of roadway.

Created by a group named "We the People to Make Greenwich Avenue Safe Again," the petition has garnered 172 signatures as of Monday morning.

"Customers, drivers, pedestrians, residents and our children face confusing and hazardous conditions at chaotic disorderly intersections with impeded visibility affecting their safety," the online petition notes. "In the absence of stationary police on the Avenue crime has increased with shoplifting, burglaries, snatch/go forcing merchants to hire costly private security."

The petition mentioned the "South American Theft Group," a group that has primarily targeted vacant high-valued homes in the tri-state area.

Additionally, the petition asks signers to support a "sense of the meeting resolution," or SOMR, calling for police officers to be returned to Greenwich Avenue and its intersections.

The Greenwich Representative Town Meeting has the authority to pass a SOMR, a non-binding resolution that can urge other branches of government to initiate desired legislation, express disapproval of actions that have been taken, or act as the final planning authority on municipal improvements.

A similar SOMR regarding returning police to the Avenue was defeated by the Greenwich Representative Town Meeting by a vote of 81 in favor, 127 opposed and seven abstentions in 2021.

Camillo said last Friday that the redeployment of officers is "the reason why all of the crimes and attempted crimes have been solved," and he explained that police officers were only stationed along the road for seven hours, five days a week, and they were absent on weekends when pedestrian and traffic volumes are high.

"It's the worst use of resources that you could have. When you're trying to recruit people, no one wants to waste two years going through an academy and standing in the middle of the road when you can't even respond to a crime. You have to call it in on your cell phone. It's a terrible, terrible waste of resources," Camillo said. "Someone told me it's a $100,000 - to start with - stop sign. The cops now are able to engage with the public. It's much better."

The earliest the RTM can examine a SOMR is March 10.

Patch has reached out to petition organizers for comment