The state had no figures on whether the same patients repeatedly walk away, but patients who do automatically revert to the lowest level of privileges when they return or are returned by police.
Although most general patients are viewed as a possible danger to themselves or others, Reim said, "It doesn't mean they're going to come after anybody." For example, he said, a patient may pose a danger only in a particular situation, such as driving a car. If they do not place themselves in that situation, they pose no danger, he said.
The nearest neighborhood to the hospital is in Morris Plains. Residents there say they have seen people they believe to be patients walking the streets in summer with little more than sneakers on, or in winter without clothes to adequately protect them from the cold.
Several neighbors interviewed recently said they believe most of the walk-aways pose no danger, but thatthey worry about the escapes of those once charged with crimes.
"One time someone [from the hospital] broke into a house up the street," said a Bedford Place woman who grew up in the neighborhood but did not want to give her name. "There aren't many people home during the day and I'm here with the kids. There is no one to even yell for."
Another resident, Terry Travaglia, said, "My kids are my concern. I have my back door open all the time. Knowing those numbers, I'll have to lock it."
While residents said they had worries, none could remember any serious crime being committed in the neighborhood.by an escaped patient.
In 1987, an escapee stole a car and pushed a 55-year-old woman from the moving vehicle as Morris Plains police chased the car. The woman was not
injured.
Parsippany-Troy Hills Deputy Police Chief Dennis Dowd sits on the Greystone Security Committee, which is composed of hospital officials and local police. "It has gotten better in the past couple of years. They have made efforts to beef up security and they have to work within the parameters of the court," Dowd said.
Douglas Lockhart is a former Morris Plains councilman and is chairman of the security committee. "Two years is too long a time to look at. Many of the improvements were not in place two years ago," he said. Lockhart said those include an increase in the height of fences around an outdoor smoking area and angling the fence at the top.
The walk-aways, Lockhart said, may be a nuisance to some residents but present no danger and usually are picked up by police and returned to the hospital. "We're used to them," he said.
Tanners Mollett, complex administrator for the specially secure ward, said the hospital is continually evaluating its security and makes changes whenever it determines there is a potential problem. This includes designating one door as the main entrance and exit for the 68 ward patients and the staff members.
Conditions are better than they were before the unit was established, Mollett said.
The doors to each floor and those to the outside are locked. Keys are needed to get in or out. Each window is covered by a security screen and keys are needed to open or close a window. Mollett said the hospital plans by summer to install video cameras and buzzers so security officers know each time a door is opened without authorization.
"Before that, these patients were dispersed throughout the hospital with no real structure," he said, adding there were 22 escapes in 1990 among patients who would have qualified for the special ward. When the ward was established, that dropped to three in 1991, then increased to six in 1992. "We catch most folks before they even go off the grounds," he said.
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