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County says police precinct transformation proposal will save $20 million annually
Dozens of local residents, including several county legislators, rallied on Jan. 31 at 2 p.m., at the 5th Precinct in Elmont, against a plan by County Executive Ed Mangano to transform four of Nassau County’s eight police precincts, including the Fifth Precinct in Elmont, into Community Policing Centers. Mangano said the plan, which was announced on Jan. 30, is expected to save the county $20 million annually.
The proposal is a change from Mangano’s announcement in October to close two precincts and realign the boundaries of the remaining six.
Under the new plan, the Fifth and Fourth precincts would be combined, and the Fifth Precinct building would no longer handle administrative paperwork or criminal processing, but officers would remain on-duty at all times. The Sixth Precinct in Manhasset, Eighth Precinct in Levittown and First Precinct in Baldwin would also become Community Policing Centers.
The Second Precinct in Woodbury, the Third Precinct in Williston Park, the Fourth Precinct in Hewlett and the Seventh Precinct in Seaford will 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 wouldn't affect residents' saftey. On Monday, he explained that under the plan, the county's 177 patrol cars would be kept in their current neighborhoods, more cops would be assigned to Problem-Oriented Policing Units and the four new Community Policing Centers would create increased efficiencies for Nassau's police force. “Keeping residents safe is my No. 1 priority,” Mangano said on Monday.
Due to county staffing changes and layoffs in 2011, POP units, which are comprised of community police officers, 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.
