73.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Cop out?
Cash-strapped county contemplates precinct closures
“The precinct is just a building,” according to Katie Grilli-Robles, spokeswoman for Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano. Closing two of the county’s eight police precincts, Grilli-Robles says, will have little effect on policing in the county — especially now that the Police Department and its vehicles are equipped with modern technology, and officers and residents are using station houses less — but it will save about $15 million.
In a presentation to the Legislature at a hearing on Oct. 12, Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said that the county’s plan to realign the current precinct boundaries — expected to help close a projected $310 million deficit for 2012 — would result in improved efficiency. Closing two station houses, Krumpter said, would not reduce patrol posts.
“In other words, there will be 178 patrol posts in the county today and there will be 178 patrol posts if the precincts are realigned,” he told legislators, adding that the realignment would also have no effect on response times or the number of officers on patrol.
Despite Krumpter’s reassurances and those of Mangano himself, some residents and members of the Police Benevolent Association, including President James Carver, say they are concerned about the realignment’s potential impact, calling it an unsafe idea. At a rally outside police headquarters on Oct. 11, Carver said that eliminating a precinct, which he described as being “special” to any given community, gives residents of that community the “impression that you’ve given up on [them].”
Rosalie Norton, president of the West Hempstead Community Support Association, said she has developed close relationships with 5th Precinct members, particularly the Problem-Oriented Policing unit that serves her neighborhood. While the possibility of losing the precinct worries her, she said she understands the county’s proposal.
