County plan redeploys POP officers

For nearly two decades, the 5th Precinct’s Problem Oriented Policing Unit has generally consisted of a group of four officers, who the community has become comfortable working closely with and, most importantly, trusted. That relationship changed severely last Monday, when three of the unit’s officers were relocated to the 5th Precinct’s patrol unit, in compliance with a plan created by County Executive Ed Mangano to reduce the county’s costs and prevent further tax increases.

“My administration has worked tirelessly to rein in government spending and protect residents from a property tax increase,” Mangano said. “I advised county unions that labor savings were necessary for 2011 and that if they were not achieved voluntarily, I would have no choice but to achieve these savings with layoffs and other actions. Because additional concessions have not been volunteered in 2011, it is necessary to issue formal layoffs and redeployment of police. Simply put, if everyone gave a little, no one would give a lot.”

Mangano’s Police Redeployment Plan, which is proposed to save taxpayers more than $9 million, restructures the Nassau County Police Department by redeploying 166 employees, including 109 officers, 19 supervisors and 38 civilian employees. In addition to designating only one POP officer per county precinct, the plan redirects the police department’s commanding officers to attend community meetings, and assigns supervisors as liaisons to villages and community groups.

According to Mangano’s office, the department has the flexibility to use directed patrols to address problems that have been previously addressed by POP officers, and to redeploy personnel to the POP Unit.

However, some community leaders say it won’t be the same.

Pat Nicolosi, president of the Elmont East End Civic Association, said he doesn’t believe that having only one officer in the 5th Precinct’s POP Unit is sufficient, and that using directed patrols just isn’t the same. “They will take care of it, but when is it going to get taken care of?” he said.

Mimi Pierre-Johnson, president of the Elmont Argo Civic Association, and Pat Boyle, director of Gateway Youth Outreach in Elmont, agreed. “It’s not practical having one cop out there,” Boyle said.

Pierre-Johnson said she believes that the POP Unit helped close an old gap between the police and the community. Since the POP Unit was established in 1993, communication between police and residents has been more fluid, she explained. “They know the community, they know the houses, they know the area,” she said.

Nicolosi said he’s called the POP Unit after witnessing the sale of alcohol to minors, drug-related crimes, and drug paraphernalia being sold at the front of local stores near schools — which was banned by a county ordinance nearly a year ago — and the POP Unit has acted quickly. Several years ago, he added, POP officers set up a sting at a local senior center, following an anonymous call about a drug dealer living at the center, and caught the dealer.

“We really trust these people,” Boyle said. “If one of us knows about something that’s going on, am I just going to call the precinct and talk to a stranger about a sensitive issue that we really need to take care of? I am going to talk with someone I trust.”

Not only do POP Unit officers help with addressing crime, they help prevent it.

“When they go to a civic association meeting, and they hear something, they can take that back and make something happen. Someone in a patrol car can’t do that,” Boyle said. “If a POP cop were to know of a kid who was having problems and hasn’t gotten involved in crimes, he could sit and talk with them … the POP cops can kind of grab them because they know them from the schools, or somewhere else in the community, and they steer them in toward GYO, or another outlet.”

The 5th Precinct’s POP Unit cracks down on sales of alcohol to minors through Project 21, a program that uses underage agents to catch store owners in the act of selling to a minor. The unit also works to stop the sales of pornography and cigarettes to minors, gang participation, neighbor disputes, and violence at school events.

Kevin Smith, a Nassau County detective lieutenant, said the cuts to the county’s POP units were difficult to avoid. “This is because of the economic times,” he said. “Rather than cause shortages in our roll calls and have to fill that with overtime, a prudent thing would be to put officers back into those positions. If we had 10 officers in the POP Unit, obviously, that we be a lot better … it’s about being fiscally responsible, and trying to attain a balance.”

The county’s POP units are generally comprised of four officers per precinct, Smith said, but vary in size due to budgetary cuts similar to those in the county’s plan.

Brian Nevin, a spokesman for Mangano, said that under the county plan, public safety will be maintained, if not improved. “To suggest otherwise is a joke, and an effort to maintain the status quo, which has cost taxpayers dearly,” he said.

However, Pierre-Johnson said, having several POP Unit officers is a necessary safety measure for the community. “Mangano is cutting back security, and the thieves are organizing against us,” she said.

Questions about this story? JNash@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000, ext. 214.