Precinct forms new community council

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Homelessness and vandalism were two of the issues that were discussed at an inaugural police precinct-community council meeting last week in Baldwin, according to those who attended.

The meeting, between Daniel Flanagan, commander of the Nassau County Police Department’s 1st Precinct, and area community leaders, was “an opportunity for the community to have a voice, to bring their issues up,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan added that the meeting focused on “quality-of-life issues, such as vandalism. Also, crime that’s prevalent in every community.”

The precinct-community council was formed at the direction of Thomas Krumpter, the NCPD’s acting commissioner. Flanagan said that Krumpter directed the commanding officers of every precinct to invite community activists to join the similar panels.

The mission of the panels, Flanagan explained, is to foster and maintain open lines of communication between the community and the precinct, giving the community a voice in police activity and cultivating better relations.

The communities covered by the 1st Precinct include Baldwin, East Meadow, central and north Merrick, Roosevelt, South Hempstead, Uniondale and a slice of Wantagh.

Besides Flanagan and other precinct officials, five community leaders attended the inaugural session, Flanagan said: Karen Montalbano, president of the Baldwin Civic Association; Alfredia Fairnot, president of the Baldwin Oaks Civic Association; Yvonne Amato, co-chair of the East Meadow Neighborhood Committee; Claudia Borecky, president of the North and Central Merrick Civic Association; and a representative of Uniondale.

Flanagan said he expected that others would also join the panel, particularly from Roosevelt. “The commissioner has directed us to expand it,” he said.

“For our particular community, the major concern was the homeless situation,” Amato said. “It will never be 100 percent resolved, because we’re near the parks, and homelessness is a national epidemic. We’re working on this issue to assist them; it’s a very difficult situation.

“I brought this up to Inspector Flanagan, and they’re going to work on that situation,” Amato added. “This is a twofold thing; it’s about helping the community and helping the homeless.”

Fairnot said she was delighted to join the committee. “I think it’s a fabulous idea,” she said. “Growing up, coming from Harlem, you don’t talk to the police. This gave me a different perspective of officers out on the street. They’re not the enemy.

“What happens now is that the police and I have forged a relationship,” Fairnot added. “If I see something or say something, I can get them here quicker, and I appreciate that.”

Asked what direction he expected the council to take, Flanagan said, “Wherever it leads us. I’m not the director. It’s where the council chooses to go. It’s their council.”

Montalbano said she believed the group would be helpful in furthering community relations with the police. “It’s a way of opening communications,” she said. “It’s a great way to get a dialogue together.”

The council will meet every other month, at least initially, with the next meeting scheduled for March. That will coincide with the opening of the new 1st Precinct headquarters, now under construction in Baldwin.

“The new facility is 20,000 square feet, triple the size of the current building,” Flanagan said. “It’s a modern police facility. This building was never designed as a police precinct. The new building is designed as a modern police precinct.”

The new building will have a big meeting space, Flanagan said, “which will really benefit police and the community and our relationship.”

Julie Mansmann contributed to this story.