By Jonann Brady
Gary shared this "behind the scenes" Kevin Kamen story at a Kiwanis Club dinner last week, which honored his 27 years of service with Baldwin's auxiliary police force, where he now serves as its commanding officer.
Gary couldn't help but tease his brother a little about his first start-up. "Are you sure you never hung up a sign on a pole?" he asked.
Gary was, of course, referring to Kevin's most recent campaign to rid Baldwin of work-at-home and other signs on telephone poles that had recently sprung up around town. By all accounts, Kevin seems to have won his war against the signs.
Kevin has, by his own reckoning, served with the library board "since he was an infant" (after 25 years, he is now president of the board), and joined the auxiliary police "at age five." But beyond his official titles, Kevin is a force in the Baldwin community, a person who gets things done, according to those who have worked with him.
Politicians, police officials, library staffers and friends came out last Tuesday night to honor Kevin's nearly three decades of fighting for the Baldwin community.
Town of Hempstead Councilman Anthony Santino recalled when he was initially elected to office, the first person to knock on his door was Kevin Kamen. Famous for his eating meetings, Kevin invited Santino to breakfast, where he gave Santino his "agenda" for Baldwin. Since then, they've been meeting for breakfast nearly every month, and as Santino said, "I wish we had a Kevin in every community."
The auxiliary police force, which is staffed by volunteers, serves as the "eyes and ears" of the paid force. Tony Rocco, now a Deputy Chief of the Nassau County police and former First Precinct commander, thanked Kevin for "supporting us when we were right and keeping us on our toes when we were wrong."
As one fellow auxiliary police officer said, Kevin can be a "pain in the butt," but that, perhaps, is his secret. According to Gary Greenidge, an auxiliary police sargeant who has worked with Kevin for five years, "Nobody can say no to Kevin."
