– EDISON, N.J.

Stunned by numerous incidents of burglaries and home invasions affecting a number of Indian-American residents in Edison Township, local residents including representatives from several community groups protested at the city council meeting held on Nov. 28 against the township’s inability to provide security to its residents.

In the most recent incident of home invasion that took place on Nov. 27 in North Edison, two men broke into an Indian-American home through the back door. 

“The invaders, impersonating as policemen pretended to be investigating some domestic matters, asked for cash from the house residents which the residents complied with”, Sameep Joshi, a local resident told News India Times. “Fortunately the robbers didn’t fire a shot,” Joshi, who worked with Edison police as a dispatch until he was laid off last year, added.

The homeowners were traumatized because of the incident. “They have no courage to speak openly about the incident for fear of reprisal”, Joshi said, adding that it was rare that a house was invaded while residents were inside.

Most of the citizen speakers at the council meeting raised the issue of insecurity in the township demanding answers from the administration. The council president, Robert Karabinchak, however, expressed his inability to do much for improving the situation in near future casting blame on bad economic situation ‘which prompted criminals to indulge in acts like vandalism, theft and robbery’.

Karabinchak said that safety was a top priority of the administration but budgetary were the main reasons behind the city administration’s inability to recruit more police personnel. “The recent incidents are disturbing. Safety of our citizens is paramount to us”, he said.  “We need more police officers to petrol the city. But we don’t have enough money to meet these demands”. 

Karabinchak’s casual remark that a determined burglar can succeed in vandalizing a house, was not appreciated by the protesters at the meeting who wondered if the city officials were truly concerned about the improving the worsening law and order situation in the town.

Bimal Joshi, an Indian- American businessman, asked the city administration about the status of a plan to set up a police outpost in North Edison, where majority of incidents took place. Responding to the concerns of residents, Edison police chief Thomas Bryan conceded that the township lacked sufficient number of police personnel to petrol the neighborhood. He couldn’t provide information about when, if ever, a police post would be set up in North Edison. 

Joshi raised his voice before a silent council hall taunting the city officials to wake up. 

“Our families are in danger. We came here because Edison was a good place to raise our families. The public safety has been worsened in the past few years. The situation didn’t change when a new Mayor was elected”, Joshi said in his strong worded statement asking the current Mayor to do what was needed to improve the situation or step out.

Edison Councilman Dr. Sudhanshu Prasad joined the residents in raising voice against the deteriorating law and order situating in the town. He wanted to know why a police officer’s duty hours were reduced for 20 minutes every week. “In a year time this amounts to a huge loss”, he pointed out.

Edison is home of Asian Americans who constitute 40 percent of the town’s population, out of which Indian Americans comprise the largest chunk. The city has seen an influx of immigrants from Asian countries, especially, India, in the past decade. 

“The township attracted so many Asians because it was considered safe and friendly to immigrants”, said Kirit Patel, a business owner on Oak Tree Road, the main thoroughfare in North Edison. The street is also known as the Indian business district which has thrived in spite of economic downturn of the most part of the U.S.

Patel said that the Indian households were prime target of burglars because ‘criminals seemed to believe that large cash was kept in Indian homes’. 

Patel, also known as Tony, said that his home was also broken a few years ago. The police investigated and prosecuted some of the criminals. “However, such incidents continue to occur in the township creating persistent sense of insecurity in the community”, he said.

Bryan confirmed that 10 cases of burglaries were reported in the township from August to November last year. Calling these incidents “very disturbing,” Bryan said that it was the responsibilities of civic administration as well as the police department to protect its residents and curb crime rate. 

“There were 240 cases of house burglaries reported in a year. However, we shouldn’t rush to the conclusion that crime has increased”, he said, pointing out that his department had made 78 arrests in the current year.

“Please don’t mix up burglaries with robbery or home invasion”, he said trying to ease the tension. 

But the worried residents were not satisfied with his explanation. 

“What should we do to safeguard our children when the elders are not home”, asked a senior citizen. 

Bryan said that youngsters should be trained to call 911. “Please encourage your children to call this number when they sensed danger. Our officers usually respond within four minutes”, he claimed explaining that a petrol vehicle nearest to the place form where call is made will respond. 

Bryan added that he hoped to hire at least 20 new officers in 2013. “There are 168 police officers employed by Edison Township, however, in effect only 157 are available for active duty.