Nassau police union head calls for complete reversal of precinct merger plan

The head of Nassau's largest police union Monday called for a complete reversal of the department's controversial precinct consolidation plan, following the department's abandonment of half the plan.

"I think there should be eight precincts; we've always advocated that eight precincts is the way to go," said James Carver, president of Nassau's Police Benevolent Association, during an afternoon news conference. "What goes on in the North Shore is different from the South Shore . . . Each neighborhood has its own unique issues so having their own precincts is much better for public safety."

Carver, who praised Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter for scaling back the plan, declined to specify how he would push for the reversals, but said it's his "role to be active in it."

Carver's comments came a day after a Newsday story detailed the department's reversal of some of its merger plan, which was originally proposed in 2012 and would have consolidated the county's eight police precincts into four and saved $20 million.

County Executive Edward Mangano and the county legislature announced earlier this month that they would separate Hewlett's Fourth Precinct and the Fifth Precinct in Elmont, which had been merged, as part of a budget deal. Krumpter told Newsday the department had decided not to merge the First Precinct in Baldwin and the Seventh Precinct in Seaford, effectively scrapping half the plan.

Krumpter said there are "no plans" to reverse the other mergers: the Third Precinct in Williston Park absorbed the Sixth Precinct in Manhasset and the Levittown-based Eighth Precinct merged with the Second Precinct in Woodbury.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.