Above, Tom Kilkenny shows the security cameras recently mounted on a pole in front of his home to his neighbor, Tom Sweeney. Below, Kilkenny and his wife Nancy look at door that they said burglars kicked in to gain entry to their home. A group of residents living on and around Peninsula Drive in Babylon Village are hoping to form a Neighborhood Watch organization, prompted in large part to an incident that they described as a home invasion.

The incident occurred at 3:30 p.m., January 31 at the home of Tom and Nancy Kilkenny on Peninsula Drive. The Kilkenny’s said they were at home that Tuesday afternoon—Nancy was in the kitchen and her husband was in the master bedroom taking a nap—when two subjects kicked in the front door and barged into the home.

“I was shocked,” said Nancy, who managed to keep her wits about her and nonchalantly told the two that her husband was upstairs and that they probably needed to speak to him. She ran up the stairs and awoke her husband, telling him that they were being burglarized.

“I told her to call 9-1-1 and then ran downstairs,” said Tom. “They were standing there with their hands in their pockets. I told them that they should know the police were on their way.”

With that, the two fled, but not before making the Kilkenny’s aware of just how vulnerable they were. Kilkenny vowed to make his neighbors aware of the incident.

“Everyone should know and be aware,” Kilkenny told a group of approximately 40 people who showed up at a Neighborhood Watch meeting he held at The Pier onThursday , Feb. 10.

“This occurred in broad daylight,” said Tom. “We need to make sure that we are doing all we can to protect ourselves, our families and our homes, and hopefully establishing a Neighborhood Watch program is one way to go.”

Kilkenny has also put up surveillance cameras on the telephone polls in the front of his home and encouraged his neighbors to do the same. “Maybe if they

burglars) see the cameras throughout our community, they will decide it’s not worth it and go someplace else,” he said.

Suffolk Police who investigated the break in found the vehicle in which the two men drove to the Kilkenny home parked on a street in Bay Shore. In addition, they found some clothing that they suspect the two were wearing at the time of the break-in in a nearby dumpster. Both the vehicle and the clothing are being checked by forensics, said Det. Lt. James Maher of the First Precinct.

Police listed the incident at the Kilkenny home as a burglary, and while there is no legal classification for “home invasion,” they said that they do not believe the incident rose to the level of the 70 incidents of home invasions that have taken place throughout Nassau and Suffolk over the past year. Maher said that he believes the subjects who entered the Kilkenny home simply opened the door suspecting the family was not at home, and that there was no evidence of damage to indicate otherwise. In addition, the family did not see any weapons, though they suspected that they had them in their pockets, and the subjects did not make any move to restrain or injure Tom and Nancy Kilkenny. When approached by the homeowners, they simply fled, which indicates, said Maher that their intention was to break into the home that they likely believed was unoccupied, scoop up an electronic item or other valuables and flee, unnoticed.

“The method of operation between the home invasions and the incident on Peninsula Drive were different,” said Maher, “and while it was no less frightening for the family, we want to make sure that people are not unnecessarily alarmed.”

Tom Kilkenny doesn’t agree. “There were two cars parked in the driveway at the time, how could they not know someone was at home,” he said.

Maher said he supports the resident’s work in establishing a Neighborhood Watch program. And, two members of the First Precinct’s Community Oriented Police Enforcement unit attended the meeting at the Pier to assist the residents in forming such a group.

“You can be our eyes and ears,” said Officer Brian Karp. “Get to know your neighbors and if you see anything suspicious, call us,” he said. “That is what we are here for.”

Some residents said they did not believe that they could accurately define “what is suspicious and what is not.”

“That’s the problem,” said Paul Barbera. “First, I don’t know what a suspicious car looks like and second, at 3:30 in the afternoon when this incident took place you don’t expect to have to be inside your homess with the doors locked.”

“We have cars of sightseers up and down our block all day long,” said Kilkenny. “We’d be on the phone with the police all day.”

Sgt. Mark Healy, who also attended the meeting, said residents can get to know the patterns of their neighbors, as well as their cars, which would help them determine what is suspicious and what is not.

BabylonV illage residents should also understand that their community is relatively safe, said Healy, despite the report of the midday break-in on Peninsula Drive.

“There were 600 burglaries reported in the First Precinct last year,” he said. “Twenty nine of them were in Babylon Village so this community is by no means being targeted.”

Residents living on neighboring streets such as Woodsome and Mulberry and asked if they could be included in the Neighborhood Watch program.

“We welcome as many people as possible,” said Kilkenny.

Babylon Village has one sector car on regular patrol, 24/7, as well as patrol’s by the precinct’s COPE unit and unmarked vehicles. In addition, Mayor Ralph Scordino, who attended the meeting, said he is out regularly driving through the Village at night, and has alerted the Village security to make more frequent patrols through the area.

Residents asked what more could be done however, sometimes expressing anger that police and Village officials were not giving them greater assurances that an incident such as the one that occurred January 31 would not happen again. One resident wanted to know if the Village could put up gates across Peninsula Drive giving access to the street to only those who lived there.

The Mayor said that since it is a Village Street, that would be prohibited. Also not likely is the installation of speed bumps on the street which another resident suggested. “They are not permitted under state law,” said the Mayor.

“What we can offer is to continue to be proactive and to offer an increased presence throughout the Village,” said the Mayor who offered to work with the group in putting together the Neighborhood Watch Program.

Paul Steinberg of Peninsula Drive who helped organize the meeting said that the goal of the group is to raise public awareness and to work closely with the police and the Village for their immediate and ongoing response to residents’ concerns. “This is not adversarial in nature with our law enforcement and village board,” said Steingberg.

Dave Catalano of Peninsuala Drive said residents should take their security into their own hands by hiring a private company to patrol the street.

“We can get a firm, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for about $5,000 a week,” he said. “When you break that down between 100 homes it comes to $50 a week.”

A second meeting open to residents living between the east side of Little East Neck Road, the west side of Carll's Rover, South of Montauk Highway to the Great South Bay will be held Thursday, March 2, 7 p.m., BabylonV illage Hall. Any other residents interested in forming their own Neighborhood Watch program who would like information on how to proceed are also invited.