Proposed Police Changes Need a Public Hearing

Legislator Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) called on Nassau County Legislature Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt and Public Safety Committee chair Dennis Dunne to hold a public hearing focusing on recent proposals made by County Executive Mangano in his revised 2011 budget which will affect law enforcement across the county.

In a mid-March response to the Nassau Interim Finance Authority (NIFA), Mr. Mangano suggested redeployment of police personnel, a police precinct consolidation and unspecified layoffs.

"We need to discover exactly what changes the County Executive is planning for the county's police force and how any changes will impact county residents", Legislator Jacobs stated. "At a public hearing called by the Legislative leadership with witnesses testifying subject to questioning we can best determine what changes the administration foresees and how residents will be affected.”

Legislator Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin) who is the senior Democrat on the Legislature's Public Safety Committee has written the Presiding Officer and the Committee chair requesting such a public hearing. "I fully support Legislator Scannell's call for a public hearing on this critical issue," Legislator Jacobs continued. "We as legislators need to know how any changes in our police department will affect public safety. Our residents need to know how these changes will affect their neighborhoods."

Legislator Jacobs is mindful of the idea floated by the Administration in 2010 to combine the 6th precinct in Manhasset and the 2nd precinct in Woodbury. Discussions were held where concerns as to the proper coverage for both areas dominated the meeting. Jacobs said, "My concern has always been and will always be the community's public safety and this will guide me in my decisions."