By Taylor Popielarz
Hamden’s legislative council has unanimously approved the police department’s idea of opening a new substation in southeast Hamden.
The substation, set to open by Jan. 1, 2014, will be housed in a building at 943 Dixwell Avenue.
Thomas Wydra, Hamden’s Chief of Police, told Q30 in a phone interview that the substation will help residents feel safer.
“[Substations] absolutely serve as a way to reduce people’s fear of crime,” Wydra said.
The area where the substation will open has seen an increase in crime throughout the past year.
“We’ve had several home invasions,” Wydra said. “We had a homicide on Circular Avenue, which is in close proximity. And certainly had an uptick, like the rest of the region, in property crimes.”
Wydra said the substation will also serve as a meeting space for members of the community.
Data obtained from the FBI shows the neighborhood welcoming the new substation is the least safe in Hamden. The data also states the neighborhood has an income level lower than nearly 75-percent of the United States, with more than 12-percent of children residents living below the poverty line.
Hamden resident Alex Ragland was recently robbed at gunpoint less than half a mile away from where the new substation will be. He said having the substation nearby will help immensely.
“Right here in this area,” Ragland said, “there’s no police, and everybody knows that.”
Chief Wydra said he believes the substation will help change things.
“If our police officers use it in a way that we’ve used substations in the past,” Wydra said, “I think it will have an absolutely beneficial effect.”
An effect that Alex Ragland said can’t come soon enough.
“If I didn’t give up my money and run,” Ragland said, “I could’ve gotten shot.
