Plan for new armed deputy force in Nassau County moving forward despite criticism

At least nine of the 25 applicants approved to serve as armed provisional deputies to be deployed in case of major emergencies in Nassau County are retired or current NYPD officers, according to data provided to Newsday from the county.

At least 15 of the recruits have law enforcement backgrounds, including two retired Nassau police officers accepted to the controversial program County Executive Bruce Blakeman unveiled this past spring. Another approved applicant, a former NYPD sergeant, is a member of the North Hempstead Town Council.

The information about the recruits' backgrounds provides a more comprehensive look at the composition of the group, which the county executive has said eventually will grow to 75 people and take to the streets despite growing community concerns.

It comes as Nassau Democratic legislators and community advocates continue to ask why the county — which boasts one of the nation's largest police departments and historically low crime rates in recent years — needs another layer of policing. The Nassau County Police Department has about 2,600 sworn officers. Major crimes declined 8.18% between 2022 and 2023, according to data from Nassau police.

Blakeman has not responded to letters from lawmakers and community groups inquiring about how the provisional deputies were selected and trained, or how they would be armed or interact with other law enforcement agencies. 

Nassau police said in a statement that it supports the provisional deputy program.

“The Nassau County Police Department feels that creating a list of previously vetted individuals is a prudent measure in the event of an emergency of such magnitude that additional resources need to be rapidly deployed,” said Det. Lt. Scott Skrynecki, a spokesman for the department.

The Nassau County Police Benevolent Association declined to comment.

Information requests ignored

Blakeman has denied Freedom of Information Law requests and letters from lawmakers and community groups, the legislators and activists said, and has refused to say who will be liable if the deputies abuse, assault or kill someone while on duty. Lawmakers and community activists said Blakeman created the program illegally, without legislative notification or authorization. 

"If this program was on the up and up, then why is Blakeman so secretive about it?" said Jody Kass, founder of Nassau Residents for Good Government, a nonpartisan organization that has expressed concerns about some of the county executive's policies and was created earlier this year to promote integrity and transparency in government.

"The more he refuses to answer questions, the more questions it raises," Kass said.

Chris Boyle, a spokesman for Blakeman, said 25 applicants have been approved and trained. He declined a request for an interview with the county executive about the program. Boyle did provide Newsday with background information about 19 of the first 25 approved applicants, although not their names. He declined to provide information about the other six applicants. 

Blakeman's office has not responded to a Freedom of Information Law request from Newsday seeking the deputies' names, professional backgrounds, training, weapons and gun permits. Blakeman’s office also has not answered questions — also included in the FOIL request — about liability in cases where the provisional deputies engage in abuse or other misconduct.

“The Nassau County Police Department is competent, and the only thing I can think of is he wants control over it,” said Legis. Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove), the legislature's Democratic leader and a critic of the program. 

Activists and lawmakers say Blakeman's fealty to former President Donald Trump, his embrace of the MAGA agenda and his ties to a far-right group on Long Island fuel fears that the provisional deputies will be used to intimidate voters and interfere in November's election. 

"We have asked for a commitment that they not be used on Election Day," Kass said. "We would like to be reassured by Blakeman that this is not a militia, as militias have a mixed history in this country in disenfranchising voters and intimidating residents."

United for Justice in Policing on Long Island, a coalition of community groups advocating for police reform, said in an Aug. 26 letter to Blakeman that he is stoking anxiety by failing to address questions about the program. 

“With your proposal to bring in deputy sheriffs, rather than bringing a sense of safety and security to all Nassau County residents, you have sowed a bed of fear and confusion and done nothing in subsequent days to dispel those concerns,” United for Justice's Peggy Fort wrote.

The call to service

The Blakeman administration placed a notice on March 17 in Newsday seeking private citizens with gun licenses to serve as provisional special deputies who would help authorities protect human life and property during an emergency. Applicants need to be U.S. citizens, Nassau residents, property or business owners and 21 to 72 years old. They must consent to a full background check and random drug testing, and provide a fit-for-duty letter from a doctor.

"The special deputy sheriffs report to the sheriff," Blakeman said Tuesday, referring to Nassau County Sheriff Anthony LaRocco and responding to a question from NewsdayTV at a news conference about the county's 9/11 commemoration. "The sheriff is in charge of the special deputy sheriffs that would only be called up in the case of an emergency. If a declaration of an emergency is declared by me, then they would be called up. That would be a very unusual circumstance, and as everybody knows, the people on this list, and it is just a list, have no powers unless there is an emergency."

One of the applicants to the provisional deputies program, Gilles Gade, said he doesn’t believe the provisional deputies will be used to quell dissent or interfere with the election. “That is not the reason why this was created,” Gade told Newsday.

Gade is chief executive of Cross River Bank and a paramedic with Hatzalah, a volunteer ambulance company that provides service to communities on Long Island and in New York City, the Catskills and New Jersey. Gades said he has been accepted to the provisional deputy program but has not yet received training. He applied, he said, because “it is part of my DNA to answer the call" to help.

“There is a higher calling,” Gade said. “If the country and the state and the county needs you, you have to answer the call.”

Another applicant is North Hempstead Councilman Edward Scott, who is a retired NYPD sergeant, according to his biography on the town's website. He is the only member of the council to serve on the NYPD or any other police department. He did not respond to several requests for an interview.

Two of the applicants have leadership experience in emergency situations: One was a supervisor with the New York City emergency management department, and the other is a retired Nassau police deputy inspector of emergency management, the information shows.

Two applicants are retired Floral Park cops. Another is a retired Freeport police detective working as a court officer and a licensed private investigator. Four applicants served in the Marines; one was an Army Ranger.

“As you can see from the quality of the applicants we have received so far, these are highly skilled professionals who have retired and they want to give something back,” Blakeman said during an April 4 news conference in Glen Cove. “And we are just creating a database and all of a sudden everyone’s hair is on fire. Well, God forbid if there is an emergency. Do you want me to scramble at that point to try to find people?”

Community concerns

Blakeman has said the armed deputies would be mobilized when the county faces a major emergency such as Superstorm Sandy, which caused severe damage to parts of Nassau in 2012. The deputies would be used to protect power plants, government buildings, hospitals and other critical infrastructure. The deputies would not be used for crowd control or patrols, although Blakeman said at the April 4 news conference that they could be used to break up protests if lives or property are in jeopardy.

He hopes to eventually have 75 volunteers vetted and trained and has said the deputies would be used to free up Nassau police for other duties.

“Preparation is the most important thing,” Blakeman said in April. “Training and preparation, and that is what we are doing, preparing for an event we hope never happens.”

Community advocates say they are wary of the program because of Blakeman’s embrace of Trump, who faces felony charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election before the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Community activist David Sprintzen, a professor emeritus of philosophy at Long Island University, said he fears the deputies will be used as part of a national effort to challenge election results if Trump loses. Sprintzen and other Nassau critics say those fears are fueled by Blakeman's MAGA-inspired policies, including his ban on transgender athletes and masks. 

“It is clear he is aligned very closely with the MAGA movement,” said Sprintzen, who is also the coordinator of the social action committee of the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island. 

Blakeman has made two public appearances with Trump in recent months. In March, he stood at Trump’s side, shielding him from a hard rain with an umbrella as the former president addressed the media at slain NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller’s wake in Massapequa. In May, Blakeman appeared with Trump — who called the county executive “a real star in politics” — at a rally in the Bronx. Trump is scheduled to hold a rally Wednesday at Nassau Coliseum. 

Blakeman also appeared at a 2022 “Back the Bruce” rally celebrating his opposition to COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates that was organized by the Long Island Loud Majority, listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an extreme anti-government group. In February, he appeared on a podcast hosted by Long Island Loud Majority founder Kevin Smith.

According to Nassau Residents for Good Government and other critics, the program will expose the county to lawsuits, administrative and legal expenses and massive liability. 

Funding the program

In a Sept. 3 letter to the Nassau Interim Financial Authority, which has overseen the county’s finances since the late 1990s debt crisis, Nassau Residents for Good Government called on the agency to force Blakeman to provide answers on how the program will be funded when it reviews the county executive's budget proposal for fiscal year 2025. 

“From a good government perspective, there is simply no need to deputize private citizens when publicly funded and trained police forces are available,” the group said in its letter, pointing out that Blakeman could call on New York State Police, the National Guard, town departments and other law enforcement agencies in emergency situations.

In an April 24 letter to Blakeman, DeRiggi-Whitton and other Democratic lawmakers said the provisional deputy program is illegal and called on Blakeman to abandon it immediately.

“You are arrogating to yourself power you do not have to advance an inflammatory and illegal political stunt that wastes time, money, and attention that should be devoted to our county’s real issues and concerns,” the letter said.

Blakeman also overstepped his authority to pay the provisional deputies a stipend of $150 for each day they are activated, the letter said. According to county law, the letter said, special deputies can only be paid up to $3 an hour without legislative approval.

“I’ve been a legislator for 14 years and I’ve never seen anything like it,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “It is a lack of respect for other branches of government. I don’t want to be a fearmonger, but I am concerned.”

Blakeman has justified creation of the provisional deputies by saying a similar program was created in Westchester County, but in a June 18 letter to DeRiggi-Whitton, Westchester Director of Operations Joan McDonald said that is not accurate. Westchester’s deputies provide support for parades, festivals and other events.

“Westchester has not created a private militia as County Executive Blakeman has done,” McDonald said.

At his April 4 news conference, Blakeman pushed back on the idea that the program needed to go through the legislative process.

“The executive branch makes the decisions if there is an emergency, and I have the power,” Blakeman said. “Again, I think people are misinterpreting this. I could do so today if there is an emergency.”

With James Carbone