Petition Urges Town To Add Cops To Greenwich Avenue; RTM To Discuss

GREENWICH, CT — A Sense of the Meeting Resolution (SOMR) calling for stationary police officers to be added back to Greenwich Avenue is on the docket for the Representative Town Meeting's March 10 meeting, reigniting a long-debated topic in town that stretches back a number of years.

According to call materials for the regularly scheduled meeting, the SOMR calls for the return of stationary officers to the Greenwich Avenue and Elm Street, Lewis Street and Havemeyer/Arch Street intersections "to direct traffic, protect pedestrians and local businesses and serve as a deterrent to crime for the betterment of our community."

The SOMR claims that "customers, drivers, pedestrians, residents and our children face confusing and hazardous conditions at chaotic disorderly intersections with impeded visibility affecting their safety," and that local merchants have had to hire "costly private security" due to an increase in criminal activity.

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

Associated with the SOMR is a petition signed by over 40 residents calling for the item to be placed on the RTM call. An online petition has been circulating for several months with the same language as the SOMR, and it has garnered 294 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

The Greenwich RTM 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 RTM by a vote of 81 in favor, 127 opposed and seven abstentions in 2021.

Officers were redeployed on Greenwich Avenue in 2020 around the time the COVID-19 pandemic hit with a goal of making 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.

First Selectman Fred Camillo has been a strong opponent of returning officers to the Avenue.

During an appearance on his weekly radio spot on WGCH with host Tony Savino in January, Camillo dismissed the online petition and efforts to bring the officers back.

"They can do that all they want, it's never going to happen," Camillo said.

The March 10 RTM meeting is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. at Central Middle School. It will also be broadcast via Zoom.