The Mineola Auxiliary Police Department (MAPD) has garnered recognition from both residents and village officials for their work in service to the community of Mineola.

The MAPD has received even greater recognition after a recent investigation in which they assisted the Nassau County and New York City Police Departments in stopping the circulation of racist and anti-Semitic literature.

For each of the last eight to 10 years, during fund-raising season, an envelope would arrive at the MAPD that was much thicker than the others.

As well as being thick, the envelope's label would be ripped off, the MAPD's own P.O. Box would be written in the upper left-hand corner as the return address and a metered or regular stamp would be used.

That envelope, instead of containing a donation for the service organization, was stuffed with racist and anti-Semitic literature Xeroxed from other sources.

The literature included racist cartoons with derogatory depictions of people of African and Jewish descent as well as articles stating that specific ethnic groups own Hollywood and run the country.

MAPD Deputy Chief Stuart Goldstein took over as the treasurer for the fund drive back in 1985. "A few years ago I decided to put my foot down, open up an investigation with the 3rd Precinct and try to find this person," he said.

Why was it so important to the deputy chief to find and stop this person? Goldstein explained that the literature became worse and worse as the years went by, and in an atmosphere created by the Oklahoma City Bombing and increased visibility of militia groups, it was important to identify this person before he harmed someone.

"Are innocent people going to be hurt by this guy?" Goldstein asked himself. After the Unabomber, said the MAPD deputy chief, it was imperative that this person be located.

Goldstein took the material over to the Mineola postmaster who said he would see what he could do. The U.S. Postal Inspector sent the MAPD a letter stating that the letter was untraceable, but they would keep a record of its existence.

So, Goldstein and the MAPD decided to use an investigative tool, in conjunction with the 3rd Precinct, to track down who was sending the letters.

In April and May of 1996 a company (which not only donated its time free of charge but offered to testify and certify in a court of law) mailed and catalogued the 13,000 pieces of mail sent out by the MAPD to solicit donations, marking each envelope with a special indicator.

When the envelopes were returned to the MAPD, Goldstein knew right away which one contained the hate mail due to its thickness and he contacted Detective Bill Kaul at the 3rd Squad.

In mid-June Kaul took the letter to the company and together they opened it and traced it back to a post office box owned by a Mineola resident who was also a New York City Police Officer.

Upon learning that the suspect was a police officer, Goldstein was appalled. "He is a police officer sworn to uphold the constitution of the state of New York. He is not above the law. He is supposed to be setting an example, a good example not a bad one," he commented.

The process was repeated with a second mailing in August and September with 11,000 pieces of mail being catalogued by the company. This time the company only coded two envelopes, one that went to the suspect's home and another that went to the suspect's post office box.

When the return envelopes were sent, once again the envelope that was sent to the post office box address was returned containing prejudice literature.

To confirm that they had found the responsible party, a third mailing was sent out in May of 1997, and this time only the envelope sent to the post office box was marked. Again the literature came in response.

Though the Nassau County Bias Crimes Unit demonstrated a great interest in this case, the district attorney refused to prosecute because the literature contained no threats, was not directed toward any specific person and was not original material.

Furthermore the accused was off duty when he mailed the literature, and was not acting in official capacity. The New York City district attorney also refused to prosecute.

Currently the suspect, who reportedly admitted to sending the literature not only to the MAPD but to many organizations, faces suspension or possibly termination.

After a long and exhausting process, Goldstein finds that the result of the investigation comes with a level of satisfaction.

He said, "The satisfaction is we were able to find him and he is not a threat to the community. It is gratifying to the MAPD that we were able to assist in a major investigation of the NCPD and the NYPD."