The New Windsor Police Department conducted Holiday Patrols in the commercial areas of town during the final three weeks of December 2021. This increased patrol initiative consisted of uniformed officers in marked police cars, as well as less obvious patrols of detectives in unmarked police cars. The patrols occurred in and around the Vails Gate commercial area, as well as other strip mall and convenience store locations in Town. The overall purpose of these highly visible Holiday Patrols is to deter robberies and larcenies from occurring and to increase the overall safety of shoppers in town.

The Holiday Patrol Initiative proved to be very successful again this holiday season. In the commercial areas where the patrols occurred, there were no robberies and only three shopliftings and one attempted shoplifting reported. Additionally, all three shoplifting cases resulted in an arrest. In the case of the attempted shoplifting, the items that were taken were recovered and the business did not wish to pursue charges against the individual.

“Historically across the country, law enforcement sees an increase in robberies and larcenies during the holiday season and we simply will not allow this to happen here.

2021 marked our fourth holiday season in a row where we conducted these type of high visibility patrols, Police Chief Robert Doss said. “Impressively and once again, our efforts showed an overall decrease in these type of incidents. I think it is so very important that people coming to New Windsor to visit our businesses feel safe and I think we accomplished this. The success of the Holiday Patrol initiative is a direct result of the hard work of our officers and detectives and I appreciate all their efforts.”