Nassau car accident reports now online

Anyone involved in a car accident in Nassau County can now avoid a trip to the precinct by getting their police reports online, but the service costs $14 rather than the $10 charged at the station house, county officials said Monday.

"This simple but smart initiative makes life a little bit easier for residents," Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said at a news conference at police headquarters in Mineola on the same day the second step toward consolidating the county's eight precincts took place.

The Sixth Precinct in Manhasset was merged with the Third Precinct in Williston Park Monday.

The Eighth Precinct in Levittown was merged into the Second Precinct in Woodbury last month. The Fifth Precinct in Elmont will be merged into the Fourth Precinct in Hewlett in September, and the First Precinct in Baldwin will be merged into the Seventh Precinct in Seaford in November.

The system, operated by the information company LexisNexis, was operational Monday on the Police Department's website, pdcn.org, and should be on the county website -- nassau countyny.gov -- Tuesday, a Mangano spokeswoman said.

The reports will be also available at precincts, community policing centers and police headquarters in Mineola.

The head of Nassau's Police Benevolent Association, James Carver, who fought the precinct consolidation, said of the online system: "People will still be coming to the precinct to have the form explained to them. When I worked in a precinct, you'd give the form to the person, they'd take five steps and turn around and say, 'What does this mean?' "

LexisNexis will keep $4 from every transaction. It processes about 400,000 monthly requests for accident reports from more than 400 other jurisdictions nationwide, said Seth Perlmutter, senior director of business development at the firm.

Suffolk officials said they are working on a similar system.