NCPD takes plainclothes officers off streets

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Argueta said that “community policing, plainclothes officers are so important to the community. People feel comfortable calling the 1st Precinct because they have a solid relationship with the officers. Now they’ll just be responding to 911 calls from their cars for shootings and robberies, instead of networking and strategizing to save our kids.

“All kids have dreams, goals and aspirations,” he said. “Maybe this looks good on a spreadsheet, but we’re talking about kids. They’re all destined for greatness.”

Shams Tarek, a spokesman for the Nassau County district attorney’s office, did not comment on the elimination of the county anti-gang task force, saying, “It is too early to know.”

However, the D.A.’s office is a member of the FBI’s Long Island Gang Task Force, and prosecutes gang member-related cases through the Street Narcotics and Gangs Bureau, which has 10 prosecutors. It also prosecutes gang members through the Major Offense Bureau if it is a case of murder, rape or attempted rape.

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