Keeping watch in the 5th Precinct

Nassau County’s 5th Police Precinct is a complicated swath of the South Shore. Stretching from the Queens border to West Hempstead and from the southern reaches of Floral Park to South Valley Stream, the area is a mix of everything from thickly commercial to sleepy residential.

Since May, the 5th has been the dominion of Deputy Inspector Sean O’Donnell, who has spent his entire career working to preserve the safety of the citizens of Nassau County. “It’s a busy command,” O’Donnell said. “Usually my day starts around 6:30 or so, with me reviewing whatever happened on the overnight.”

Every working day for the past five months, O’Donnell has awakened at the crack of dawn and driven from the Suffolk County home he shares with his wife — a police officer herself — to the precinct house on Dutch Broadway. It’s a relatively new command for O’Donnell, but he says he enjoys it, and it is one he hopes to hold onto for a few years.

“I’m in my 25th year as an officer; my expectation is probably to do another five years,” he said. “We recently underwent a lot of retirements, some promotions. I expect to be here in the 5th Precinct for the next several years.”

As precinct commander, O’Donnell has a responsibility that not all NCPD higher-ups share: stewardship over the Nassau-New York City border. The county and city have always had a cooperative relationship, out of necessity as much as choice, and it is that relationship, along with the border itself, that O’Donnell said makes his job all the more exciting.

As an example, on a recent Wednesday morning he arrived at work to find that a string of robberies in Elmont had ended overnight, with suspects exchanging gunfire with police in Queens and with one likely perpetrator coming back over the border into Nassau County for emergency medical treatment.

Though his might seem to be a high-stress job, O’Donnell appears to take it all in stride. His cool approach may be attributable to his experience in the Bureau of Special Operations — the county’s equivalent of a SWAT team — or his time at the FBI National Academy. Whatever it is, O’Donnell lives for the work he does every day in the 5th. “I love this command,” he said.

Despite the excitement that comes with watching over the Queens-Nassau border, his job isn’t all cops and robbers. It is just as much about reaching out to the community and its leaders — especially its political and educational leaders — as it is about monitoring the criminal Element in Nassau, O’Donnell said.

“I had a lunch meeting recently with [Hempstead Town Councilman] Ed Ambrosino,” he said. “We have events with school administrators, and we want to make sure we continue with that.”

To keep the community informed about precinct activity, O’Donnell said he has tried to attend as many meetings as possible and is using the Internet as well, including a 5th Precinct-specific blog. It’s a good way, he said, to answer questions and tackle problems.

Lately, O’Donnell said, one of the most difficult problems that the department has had to deal with is the county’s financial situation. Money is tight, and when police departments make cuts, crime almost inevitably skyrockets. So far, however, the 5th has managed to buck that trend. According to NASS-STAT reports from the department, many major crimes, including robbery, burglary and auto theft, have numbers no higher than this time last year.

O’Donnell said he attributes the crime containment to better use of technology. “We’re trying to do more with less, and we’ve done a really good job of covering the area,” he said. “I think the proof is in the pudding. The stats prove that out — crime is down. We’re also doing a much better job of making sure we have accurate reporting.”

O’Donnell acknowledged that while many residents may feel less safe now than they have in the past, technology and communication make policing the community easier and more efficient. As an example, he cited the difference between crime now and at the height of the crack epidemic in the 1980s. “Do we have the same number of cops? No, we don’t, but we didn’t have computers back then, either,” he said. “We don’t have the same number of sworn officers that we once did, but many, many more of them are out on the streets.”

Comments about this story? MHampton @liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 214.