Keeping Watch In Barnegat

by Patricia A. Miller

Robert Avallone thought he had seen it all as a paramedic with St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.

Dealing with drugs and overdoes takes up a lot of his 12-hour workday. He routinely carries Narcan - a drug to counteract the effects of heroin - with him.

He's seen people turn blue and die from drugs.

So when he and his family moved to Barnegat four years ago, he didn't plan on dealing with the drug scourge in his new town.

He was wrong.

He decided to do something about it the day he saw Barnegat police arrest a man at gunpoint for drug offenses. The arrest took place about 20 feet from his home in the Four Seasons development.

"I had my daughter in my arms," Avallone said. "This is the last straw."

Avallone and his neighbors were already aware of several "drug" houses in area. They watched people come and go at odd hours. Cars would cruise by the houses, driven by people who did not live in Four Seasons.

"There's no reason to cruise through the streets of the of the development unless you live there," he said. "After a while, you know who is who."

Shortly after the arrest near his home, Avallone and other residents held their first "Neighborhood Watch" meeting in Barnegat.

"I was a little worried that we wouldn't have a great turnout," he said. "But 25 people showed up."

The group has grown to 48 members since that first meeting back in October. Residents have met a number of times with Barnegat police to learn how to spot suspicious activity and when to call police.

The Neighborhood Watch has six block captains, a Facebook page and an e-mail alert system. There are no neighborhood patrols set up, at the police department's request, Avallone said.

"We are not the Guardian Angels," he joked. "You can call us the Barnegat
 Bulls. The officer doesn't want us going out there with torches and pitchforks."

Avallone is hoping that word will get out to the criminal element that Four Seasons is no place to do business.

"I hope it helps a little bit," he said. "But I can't stop it."