Kings Park residents want more police around psych center

Kings Park residents are pleading for more police patrols to help control young people who they say flock to their neighborhood to trespass at the nearby psychiatric center. Resident Mike DeSousa says

News 12 Staff

Jun 25, 2016, 1:44 AM

Updated 3,026 days ago

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Kings Park residents are pleading for more police patrols to help control young people who they say flock to their neighborhood to trespass at the nearby psychiatric center.
Resident Mike DeSousa says the noisy youngsters gather along Boxwood Drive and break through a fence to get to the property of the long-shuttered Kings Park Psychiatric Center.
In addition to graffiti, noise and garbage left by the trespassers, residents say they are also concerned about someone getting hurt on the property or inside the old, asbestos-filled buildings.
Suffolk Legislator Robert Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) says that since the facility closed 20 years ago and turned into a state park, he has been calling on the state to tear down the decrepit buildings.
Residents say they have reached out to state and local police as well as the governor's office numerous times, but their concerns have gone largely ignored.
A state parks spokesperson says the department last week met with local police, fire and civic leaders to implement more routine patrols. They say a project is already underway to restore the site and demolish select buildings.