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Fog/Mist Locals angered by precinct plan
Mangano: transformational police proposal would save $20 million
Nearly 100 local residents, including several county legislators, rallied on Monday at the Nassau County Legislative Chambers in Mineola, protesting a plan by County Executive Ed Mangano to transform four of the county’s eight police precincts, including the 5th, into “community policing centers.” Six days earlier, dozens of people had rallied against the plan at the 5th Precinct building in Elmont.
Mangano said that the plan, which was announced on Jan. 30, would save the county $20 million per year. The proposal diverged from his announcement in October that two precincts would be closed and the boundaries of the remaining six realigned.
Under the new plan, the 4th and 5th precincts would be combined and 5th Precinct headquarters would no longer handle administrative paperwork or criminal processing, though officers would remain on-duty at all times. The 1st Precinct, in Baldwin, the 6th, in Manhasset, and the 8th, in Levittown, would also become community policing centers. The 2nd Precinct, in Woodbury, the 3rd, in Williston Park, the 4th, in Hewlett, and the 7th, in Seaford, would remain normal precincts.
If passed by the County Legislature, the plan would be the county’s first realignment of precinct buildings in more than 40 years.
According to Mangano, the plan would not affect residents’ safety. The county’s 177 patrol cars would be kept in their current neighborhoods, more police would be assigned to Problem-Oriented Policing, or POP, units and the community policing centers would result in a more efficient county police force. “Keeping residents safe is my No. 1 priority,” Mangano said.
Due to county staffing changes and layoffs in 2011, POP units were reduced and reassigned to other units. However, Mangano said, the new plan would reassign 48 officers from desk jobs to POP units and special patrols, eliminate more than 100 civilian desk jobs and cut built-in overtime benefits.
