Parade honors Nassau County Police Department's 100 years of service

Nassau County hosted what County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s office billed as "the largest police parade in the nation" in Wantagh on Sunday afternoon. 

Thousands gathered in windy but mostly sunny conditions as police officers from the Nassau and Suffolk departments, the NYPD and other law enforcement agencies marched or rode down Wantagh Avenue in various conveyances — atop horses and in classic police cars and armored vehicles.

The parade — on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the department’s creation — ended at Railroad Avenue, where Blakeman and Nassau police Commissioner Patrick Ryder gave speeches from a stage and pipe bands played "Amazing Grace" in honor of fallen officers.

"It’s overwhelming, exciting and bittersweet — having all the departments come together like this to celebrate and remember," said Erika Perlungher, whose husband, Matthew Perlungher, a Nassau police officer and Navy veteran, died in 2021 due to an illness connected to his work as a first responder after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Rose Quinn said a police horse that marched in the mounted unit was named J.Q. after her husband, Nassau Police Officer James Quinn, who also died from a 9/11-related illness.

"Nassau County never forgets," she told Newsday. "And as much as you don't want to be here, you have to be here."

The parade featured hundreds of current and former law enforcement officers, as well as dozens of pieces of equipment — from the antique to the modern and paramilitary.

A 1920s-era Ford Model A, which had to be pushed across the finish, was among a handful of decommissioned patrol cars that made a showing. The county police also drove through in a mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle — part of $7.2 million in decommissioned military equipment Long Island police departments acquired through the 1033 program, as Newsday has previously reported.

At one point, six helicopters from the county and other law enforcement agencies buzzed over the crowd.

Blakeman had said he "wanted the biggest police parade in the country," Ryder told the crowd, "Well, it happened here today!"

Ryder said the parade was funded by its sponsor, the nonprofit Nassau County Police Department Foundation, which was founded in 2008 by former police Commissioner Larry Mulvey.

In his remarks, Blakeman, who is running for reelection this year, said the event was "not only a celebration, it is a day of memory. We remember those who died in line of duty protecting us."

Blakeman, a Republican, has campaigned on his support for law enforcement, and cited a recent U.S. News & World Report that ranked Nassau as the safest county in America.

Under him, county police spending hit a new high in 2023 — according to the latest data available, and an 11% increase from the year before, after the county signed a new contract with the police union.

In his reelection campaign, Blakeman has also sought to tie crime to immigration by lending support to President Donald Trump's aggressive deportation actions.

Last month, the county became the second in the state to participate in the 287(g) Program, under which Nassau County police officers are deputized to serve immigration warrants, detain people and transport them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers. Advocates for immigrants and refugees have said the program will breed mistrust with law enforcement and make victims of crimes who entered the country illegally less likely to report the crimes.