By Shayla Colon
Recent reports of a Citgo gas station robbery where the victim was pistol whipped and another armed robbery last Sunday, Feb. 17, has left Hamden residents wondering about their safety.
An employee at the Shell gas station on Whitney avenue, Grishma Shah of Hamden, shared her concern for safety in Hamden.
“Gunpoint is scary, I wouldn’t be able to work here if it happened to me,” Shah said.
The most calls for service made to police in January 2019 were for burglaries, according to Hamden Police Department statistics. In January alone, of the 493 emergency calls made to police, 294 were regarding a burglary. The other 199 calls were about holdups, fires or false reports.
Photo via Hamden Police Department statistics
But the amount of calls made to police this January was significantly smaller than the total calls made to police in January of last year. Since last January, some crime rates have risen. Recently, the Hamden police have reported that drug arrests and seizures for weapons or drugs are up, and so are motor vehicle infractions.
While some residents said they were concerned about their safety in light of the recent robberies, others still believe Hamden is a generally safe town. Local small-business owner of the Whitneyville Food Center, Patrice Notarfrancesco, finds Hamden to be a safe town and she is not alone.
“I feel safe here in Whitneyville,” said Notarfrancesco. “I think it’s a pretty safe area and we always have police presence coming back and forth.”
Results from a Twitter poll by HQ Press revealed that of the 36 responses, only half of participants say they feel safe in Hamden. Of the rest who participated, 11 percent said they did not feel safe, while the remaining 39 percent said they only feel safe sometimes.
“I’m not overly concerned, I still feel like Hamden is really safe and still proud to be residents of Hamden,” Hamden resident Jessica Hazan said.