First Precinct in the house

New home for Nassau County’s 1st Precinct

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As the rain came down, a crowd of several dozen Nassau County uniformed police officers, community residents and elected leaders cut the ribbon on Jan. 26 on the new –– and long-awaited –– 1st Police Precinct, at 900 Merrick Road in Baldwin.

Plans for the precinct building had been in flux for years. Officials had proposed moving it to the Rosen Shopping Center, on Grand Avenue near Baldwin High School. Later, they suggested moving it to the site of the historic Kellogg House, across the street from the precinct’s Merrick Road location.

In the end, officials decided to tear down the old precinct and construct a new structure at the same site. That, they said, was the lowest-cost option. Moving it to the Rosen Center would have cost county taxpayers an additional $21 million –– and the property would not have been county-owned. Thomas Suozzi, a Democrat from Glen Cove, proposed the deal in 2009 when he was the county executive. He is now a congressman.

“The decision to move the 1st Precinct is one that just didn’t make sense,” said Jack McCloy, a Baldwin civic activist who fought to stop the Rosen Center deal.

“I felt that unless people become active to oppose political decisions that don’t make sense,” he said, “the repercussions are increased taxation … and deals that are not made for the benefit of the constituents.”

Construction of the new precinct building began in November 2014, after the Rosen Center deal fell through.

“For nearly 40 years, there has been talk of constructing a new 1st Precinct in Baldwin, and my administration, in partnership with the Legislature and community activists, got it done,” said County Executive Ed Mangano, a Republican from Bethpage.

Police have used the new precinct house since September. A plaque at the entrance states that the building is dedicated to “the brave men and women of the Nassau County Police Department, past, present and future.”

Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter led a tour of the new 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, which includes a line-up room, several private interview rooms, a locker room and break room. The building is designed to make sure that crime suspects cannot interact with members of the public inside the precinct without authorization.

According to officials, overall crime in Nassau has fallen by 27 percent since 2009. Burglaries have dropped by half; car thefts, by 46 percent; and robberies, by 43 percent.

Mangano noted that the county’s crime rate is the lowest it’s been since 1966, when crime statistics were first recorded. In 2016, major crime dropped nearly 9 percent in all six of the county’s precincts, continuing a downward trend that began in 2010.

“My administration will continue to invest the resources needed to maintain public safety in our communities and protect our residents from the unprecedented times in which we now live,” Mangano said. “Nassau is one of the safest large suburban counties in America, and we intend to keep it that way.”