Critics decry Nassau police precinct plan

Police unions and Nassau Democrats said Tuesday that a proposal by County Executive Edward Mangano to realign the county's eight police precincts would compromise public safety by eliminating the jobs of nearly 100 officers.

James Carver, president of the Police Benevolent Association, the county's largest police union, said at a news conference in Elmont that Mangano "wants to take the presence of law and order and make it nonexistent."

Legis. Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin), ranking member of the Public Safety Committee, called the Mangano proposal "unacceptable. We are going to fight the county executive tooth and nail on this."

The legislature will have the final say on the realignment, which Mangano says will save $20 million.

Republicans who hold a 10-9 majority said they have the votes to enact the plan. But one of their members, Legis. Joseph Belesi, a retired Nassau police officer from Farmingdale, said he is on the fence about the proposal.

"I have not made up my mind," Belesi said Tuesday. "I am waiting to analyze the plan and the data."

Last year, Belesi pledged not to vote for any bill that included police layoffs. Asked if he would still vote that way, Belesi responded, "We'll see."

Democratic leaders said their caucus would vote against the proposal.

The Mangano plan calls for 108 jobs to be cut, including 95 police officers now on desk duty as well as 13 civilians, Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin disclosed.

Four of Nassau's eight precincts would become "community policing centers," each staffed round the clock by two officers. The centers would not handle criminal processing or administrative paperwork, although residents could pick up accident reports and gather in community meeting rooms.

Mangano said an additional 48 officers would be reassigned from desk jobs to neighborhood crime prevention, and stressed that the same 177 police cars will continue to patrol the same neighborhoods.

County and police union officials said they expect the law enforcement jobs to be eliminated through retirement or attrition, but Mangano has not ruled out laying off police.

"Layoffs can be avoided by a concession package offered by the unions," Nevin said.

The Fifth Precinct, along with the Sixth Precinct in Manhasset, Eighth Precinct in Levittown and the First Precinct in Baldwin are slated to become community policing centers.

The remaining precincts would be the Second in Woodbury, the Third in Williston Park, the Fourth in Hewlett and the Seventh in Seaford, to be renamed the First.

The county had planned to spend $12 million to replace the dilapidated, 80-year-old First Precinct headquarters. But Nevin said the county will now build a smaller, less expensive building.

The Police Department also is reviewing all of its real estate with an eye toward selling some of its more valuable precinct houses. The sale of those buildings, Nevin said, could be used to build new community centers.

The debate over precinct realignment comes on the eve of Mangano's deadline Wednesday for the county's three law enforcement unions to find $75 million in labor savings.

Nassau is negotiating a retirement incentive package with the unions and both sides met to discuss the plan Wednesday, Nevin said.

Details of the incentive have yet to be revealed, but officials said savings from the precinct realignment would count against the $75 million target.