The once-shady sidewalks behind Shaw’s are now bathed in white light, and the rest of Dwight may soon be, too.
New wattage outside Shaws comes thanks to Light the Night, an offer by United Illuminating, Co. to lease bright lights to area landlords and businesses. UI is working with police to identify darkened troublespots like the Elm Street walkway outside Shaws. Kids were “running around there,” and police had trouble seeing them in the dark, said UI saleswoman Judy Petrillo, who came to the Dwight Central Management Team meeting Tuesday at the Dwight Elementary School.
The corner of Chapel Street and Winthrop Avenue, where three shootings have occurred in the last month and a half, has now been set ablaze with floodlights, too. Petrillo said after the first shooting, police called her to meet with landlords about getting lights. But before she could do so, two more shootings happened.
Light the Night, among several Dwight initiatives to blast away crime with lighting, comes encouraged by Lt. Ray Hassett, a well-known city cop who specializes in the Dwight area. Hassett called the lighting “one of the best” crime-busting ideas he’s seen, because the impact is “visible.”
“You arrest a drug dealer, you don’t see it, because another criminal takes his place,” said Hassett. “But the light is ever-lasting.”
(Experts at Rutgers and in Britain think so too.)
Light fixtures average $30 per month, or $60 for the bigger, 1,000-watt white light fixture outside Shaws.
