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Partly Cloudy 5th Precinct commander demoted
Thomas DePaola loses inspector rank over inaccurate crime reports
The commanding officer of the Nassau County Police Department’s 5th Precinct was demoted last week after an investigation uncovered inaccurate offense classifications in crime reports.
The commander, Thomas DePaola, was also in charge of the 6th Precinct, based in Manhasset, at the time of his demotion from inspector to captain. DePaola was reassigned to the Office of the Chief of Patrol, police officials said — the office that conducted the investigation that found the inaccuracies in the reports, according to a statement released by Police Commissioner Thomas Dale on Aug. 1.
The investigation uncovered cases that were reclassified to lesser offenses, cases with a voided crime report classification or cases categorized as “lost property,” Dale’s statement read.
In mid-July, during a regularly scheduled Nass-Stat meeting on crime reports detailing year-to-date crime, police officials noticed a considerable reduction in overall crime in the 5th Precinct from June 12 to July 9, including a significant drop in grand larcenies, which triggered a review of the precinct’s grand larceny reports. The review led to an investigation into the strategies used to reduce grand larceny.
The Office of the Chief of Patrol “conducted an extensive audit of the remaining precincts to determine if similar incidents were occurring,” Dale’s statement read. “The results of that investigation revealed that an acceptable statistical norm of less than 2 percent error existed in precincts other than the 6th Precinct, and for a very short period of time in the 5th Precinct.”
Officials from the NCPD’s Public Information Office said that the department had no further comment on the matter, and Dale did not return calls seeking comment by press time on Monday.
James Carver, president of the Nassau Police Benevolent Association, said that an inaccurate crime report could cause several repercussions. “When you fail to properly record crime, first of all, it gives a false sense of security to those in the neighborhood, thinking that crime is down,” Carver said. “It also restricts the police officers in the effectiveness of doing their job.”
