DELAWARE

Developer to pay for Long Neck police patrols

Doug Ferrar

The Daily Times

The Long Neck Kick n' Chicken location was closed April 21 by owner Charlie Pollard after years of vandalism and break-ins. He said he was tired of police not responding to his requests for help.

There is a new player in the ongoing struggle with crime in the Long Neck, Oak Orchard and Angola areas.

Robert Tunnell III, an executive with the Tunnell Companies, LLC, developers and managers of the Long Neck communities of Pot-Nets and Baywood, offered to pay for 12 additional hours of state trooper patrols weekly, according to Long Neck Strong organizers.

The offer was accepted by the Delaware State Police special duties coordinator. That office makes available special overtime duty assignments to off-duty troopers. The types of assignments have in the past included security detail at concerts, special statewide DUI checkpoints and traffic control during roadwork in Tunnell Companies' communities, Tunnell said.

READ MORE: Hire an Off Duty Trooper

Tunnell will pay roughly $87.75 an hour for two additional Delaware state troopers, their gear and a vehicle to patrol the unincorporated areas, which are dependent on Sussex County's limited allotment of troopers to control crime in the area.

He said that the only stipulation of the duty is that troopers treat it like any on-duty patrol.

"We've seen everything in the newspaper, robberies in commercial businesses on Route 24, and the immediate reaction is, is there anything we can do as part of the Long Neck community," Tunnell said.

He pitched the idea to the special duties coordinator that instead of a one-time event, they try an extra regular patrol for four weeks to see if it has any effect on the crime rate, he said.

JoAnn Babbie, Robert Tunnell III and Lincoln Davis celebrate the ribbon-cutting of the Pot-Nets Homes Sales & Design Center. Tunnell recently arranged with the Delaware State Police to provide an additional security patrol for four weeks in the Long Neck area to see if it reduces crime.

"I said let's try it out, and we've reached out to some other Long Neck businesses and communities in Long Neck to say, 'Hey we're trying this out, maybe if this works everyone can chip in and make it more of a permanent extra duty,' " Tunnell said.

It's similar to what has been done in nearby Millville, Tunnell said. That town had its own police force, but disbanded it and now regularly uses state troopers through the same process.

Tunnell said his company has also been working with Rep. Ruth Briggs-King to extend safety and security information to homeowners and business owners in the community.

In a letter dated May 24, signed by Tunnell and his father, Robert Tunnell Jr., residents of Tunnell Companies communities were briefed on the extra patrol, but the focus of the letter was listing ways that residents could improve security in their homes and businesses by installing lights, cameras and better locks, by using safe behaviors and by calling the police when seeing suspicious activity in the area.

Citizens have been concerned since February by a sudden rise in burglaries and armed robberies in the area. The area has been hit hard by a regional heroin and opioid addiction epidemic for over 10 years, and residents and authorities cite this as a driver of crime in the area.

The Long Neck Strong community organization formed in April after a local restaurant closed because the owner said he could no longer guarantee the safety of his employees. The group has reached out to state police and government officials to explain their fears, and both sides settled into an ongoing dialog in May to address the problem.

Part of that dialog accomplished during the public meetings is an understanding that the residents must work as partners with existing police to report potential crimes and do more to keep their businesses and residences safe.

Long Neck Strong's chief request was greater police presence in the area, which has no police force of its own. The frequent response was lack of funding for more troopers in Sussex County, where the existing units are already spread too thin.

Kris Arway, a Long Neck resident and one of the organizers of Long Neck Strong, said the additional trooper presence is a pilot test that will go on for "a few weeks" to see if it's effective in reducing crime by increasing police presence in the area.

While the Tunnell communities are not themselves affected by the recent rise in crime in the area, residents use the same stores and businesses in the Route 24 corridor as residents of other communities in the region.

Because recent crime has targeted those businesses, all communities are affected, said Lynn DeBarge, a resident of Pot-Nets and a member of Long Neck Strong.

"He's trying to make us all feel safe," DeBarge said. "We're not just sitting in a bubble."

DeBarge said state police and the county have made it clear that budget constraints are a factor in limiting police presence in the area – but that's the one thing that area residents have said will help reduce the frequency of crime.

She said the Tunnell communities have a reputation for their security. A trained staff of retired professional police officers is augmented by security cameras that can read license plates, among other technologies that seem effective in controlling crime there.

"If (Tunnell's donation) means more troopers in the area, that's just wonderful," DeBarge said. "It would be even cooler if more landowners would step up in this way."

Arway said there is a backlash from some residents attributing Tunnell's generosity to cynical goals, like publicity. Tunnell said that he's surprised that the media has been calling him about the trooper support because he has been trying to avoid publicity in the matter.

Arway said it doesn't matter why he did it, only that he did it.

"I don't know why he did it, but people already feel safer. I'm happy he did it and I'd like to thank him personally," Arway said. "I think he believes in us, he believes there are problems in the area."