Inspector George Morrish retires this month as Nassau County Police Commander of the 6th Precinct. In his 35-year career with the department he has played many roles. From 1968 to 1973 he was assigned to the 6th Precinct, which includes Great Neck, Manhasset, Roslyn, sections of Port Washington not covered by the Port Washington Police Department, Glen Head and Sea Cliff. After that he was transferred to the records division, to the aviation division and to the detectives division. Coming back to the 6th Precinct as its commanding officer in 1996 was coming home to where he started.

"Things are changing fast, now," he said in an interview. "We have a new commissioner who is new to our way of doing things. They're going to be doing more with less." Morrish made it clear that he was not criticizing the new commissioner, merely observing that he will be given a tough job. As to comments in the daily press that the Nassau County police officers are highly paid, Commander Morrish said, "You pay for what you get. Salaries are high but corruption is virtually unknown. I'm not saying that there may not be individual cases, but there is no organized corruption. Salaries are high and you don't want to jeopardize a good job." He added that the citizens of Nassau County are proud of their police department. "We get more letters of compliment than letters of complaint," he said. "The taxpayers are satisfied and they have little reason for complaint."

In the Sixth Precinct, the police are doing very well. "Crime has been way down," Morrish said, "until recently. I would like to have seen it continue to go down until my retirement, but that isn't happening. Certain villages are very concerned about burglaries, which were down until last year when they started to go up in Roslyn, East Hills, North Hills and Great Neck." He has met with a number of civic associations from those communities. Morrish said that the police know that an organized group coming out of the city is responsible for burglaries along the Expressway corridor. Their signature appears to be the fact that they know how to cut alarms, especially in gated communities.

Inspector George Morrish is a friendly man, unconfrontational in his style. That style suits him well because his office interacts with a wide variety of institutions. There are 17 incorporated villages in the sixth precinct, from Lake Success, which borders the New York City Police Department to Sea Cliff, which borders the City of Glen Cove. Morrish said that his department shares interest and commitment and is on a friendly basis with local police departments, such as those in Port Washington and Sands Point. This sort of friendly cooperation is essential, he said, citing the Great Neck parade in honor of Olympian Sarah Hughes. "There were 49,000 people at that parade," he said. "We cooperated with police from Kensington, Great Neck Estates, Lake Success and with New York State troopers. There was no overtime and there were no injuries," he said with pardonable pride. A signature of George Morrish's tenure has been his willingness to meet with local groups, from civic associations to the American Legion to Incorporated Villages.

Inspector Morrish acknowledged that civilians will be expected to take on more jobs currently done by police officers in the future and that this will be part of the negotiations for a new police contract. Whereas there are some instances in which that will be possible, he stressed the fact that some jobs, which may appear to be clerical, require police officers, citing payroll as an example. He also expressed concern that the county police have not been aggressively hiring new officers. "It will take time to replace cops who are leaving," he said. "Some people who were on the old list have found other work and are no longer pursuing a career in the police department." Even with the list in place, Inspector Morrish said that there is a one-year lag in hiring because of the necessity of background checks, physical fitness, a seven-month stint in the Police Academy. At the end of a year, maybe one in 10 is hirable. Despite this, he thinks a career in the Nassau County Police Department is a desirable one. He proves it by saying that his daughter has just begun to work for the department.

Auto larcenies, a perennial problem in an area like this one, are down in recent days, but Morrish said that these things are cyclical. One problem that has grown worse in recent days is parking enforcement. "We have enough crossing guards," he said, "but parking complaints have increased and we have only one parking enforcement agent in the department."

What will he do when he retires? Inspector Morrish said that his wife has a 35-year list of handyman jobs to keep him busy. What will he miss most? "I loved being in the pipe band," he said. "I played the bagpipes for 28 years."