County exec, police lock horns over public safety

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and Police Benevolent Association President Jim Carver are locked in a war of words in the wake of Mangano’s recent release of his 2012 budget, in which he calls for the county Police Department to be restructured, with two of eight precincts cut, and for the department’s longstanding “minimum manning” requirement to be eliminated.

Carver contends that the changes, if enacted, would continue “the destruction of the department,” which began, the PBA contends, with staffing reductions dating back nearly a decade, to the previous county executive, Thomas Suozzi.

Meanwhile, Mangano says that the PBA is trying to scare residents with a series of advertisements and commercials. He says that changes to the Police Department are needed to help rein in a projected $300 million budget deficit in 2012.

Minimum manning at issue

According to the PBA, the minimum manning requirement dates back nearly three decades, to 1982. It sets minimum staffing requirements at each of the county’s eight precincts that must be maintained at all times. Under the requirement, officers do not work outside their precincts. When the staffing level at a precinct is running low, off-duty officers from that precinct are brought in to work overtime. Mangano says he would like to reform the practice, so that on-duty officers could be shifted between precincts to reduce overtime.

Carver, however, says that eliminating minimum manning would reduce officers’ response times to crimes. Nassau residents, the PBA contends, are accustomed to response times of minutes.

On the PBA website, Carver writes, “The county executive’s budget would have a negative impact on how services are delivered to Nassau residents.”

On the county website, Mangano writes, “Nassau’s finances spun out of control over the past decade because of a broken assessment system and overly generous contractual obligations that are unaffordable.”

Public safety compromised?