Nassau police promote 15 to department's highest detective rank

Fifteen Nassau police officers were designated as detectives first-grade Tuesday at a ceremony in Mineola, the first cops promoted to the recently created rank.

The group includes Ken Baribault, a Nassau patrol officer confined to a wheelchair after he was injured by a drunken-driving in 2008. The 14 other cops had been detectives second-grade and have more than 400 years of experience between them. They were chosen by a five-member panel based on their length of service, history with the department and the quality of their cases.

Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said it was important to recognize the detectives and Baribault for their service to the community at a time when anti-cop sentiment is rampant. Detectives serve as "the voice" of crime victims and their families, he said.

"All the anti-police stuff running high out there, this is a way to say we are the good guys," Ryder said. "We’re not the bad guys."

The new rank was included in the contract approved by county officials and the Nassau Detectives Association in January 2020. Ryder said the union and department reached agreement on adding the rank as a way to address a shortage of detectives.

The shortage was caused by quirks in police contracts that expired at the end of 2017. Those contracts discouraged some officers from seeking promotions to detective because the pay scale structure often meant cops could earn more on street patrol.

Only 300 of the department’s 360 detective slots were filled when the contract was negotiated. Ryder said the department now has 330 detectives, including the 15 designated Tuesday to the highest rank.

"This is a momentous achievement in the history and future of the Detective Division, as we have created a career path for the hard-working detectives of the Nassau County Police Department," union president John Wighaus said in a statement.

Among the cops picked by a five-member panel to be first-grade detective is Gary Ferruci of the Homicide Squad’s Vehicular Crimes and Reconstruction. Ferruci, recognized as a national expert in drunken driving cases, has been with the police department for 51 years.

Others include Jimmy Healey, a longtime First Squad detective who has served as a longtime mentor for younger officers, and Danielle Perez, a detective who works with sex offenders.

"It is a tough job and she does it really well," Ryder said of Perez. "She is a tough cookie."

Baribault, who participated in the ceremony with his family via Zoom because of the coronavirus pandemic, had been with the department for three years when he pulled over a drunken-driving suspect on the Long Island Expressway in May 2008. Baribault was sitting in his patrol car when a second drunken driver slammed into his cruiser.

"We always honor those that have fallen and have been injured," Ryder said.

Baribault’s sister, Jennifer Baribault, said via Zoom that her brother and their entire family were moved by the decision to include the injured officer in the inaugural class of detectives first-grade.

"The support and dedication we have received from this department has been incredible, unwavering and very comforting," she said.