State Police have new, sustainable location in East Meadow

After over a year of construction, the Long Island division of the New York State Police known as Troop L has relocated officers from a weathered and worn-out Valley Stream station to a new and environmentally friendly location in East Meadow.

The new station, which is owned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, sits on Merrick Avenue and faces Eisenhower Park. It includes sustainable features, such as a geothermal system for heating and cooling and porous pavement that allows water to drain into the soil below.

Local contractors worked on the $1.75 million building, including ARA Plumbing Corporation in Seaford, Premier Mechanical Services Inc. in Holbrook, VRD Contracting Inc in Holbrook and Welsbach Electric Corporation/Emcor in College Point.

Troopers, or “Gray Riders,” for the new station will come from the Valley Stream office, which closed on May 1, and the Lake Success office, which will remain open.

Although state police have only been at the Valley Stream location for 38 years, the building has been around since the construction of the Southern State parkway in and used to be attached to toll booths spanning the parkway. Officials said that it has faced poor conditions for many years and the State Police no longer finds it “adequate to perform vital law enforcement functions.”

The State Police are currently in talks with the New York State Office of General Services to determine what will happen to the Valley Stream location, officials said.

The State Police formed in 1917 in rural Westchester County after a construction foreman Sam Howell’s murder prompted the state to create its own full service police agency.

In the 1980s, after the construction of the Long Island Parkway, the State Police designated Troop L as the Long Island division of the department. According to state records, Troop L and its Narcotics Unit have set standards in their ability to apprehend drug distribution organizations and tackled drug trafficking.