While the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association (PBA) has begun its campaign against Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, the committee formed to study the feasibility of Mineola having its own police force has begun to collect information.

According to John Curry, the chairman of the committee, it is in the process of collecting information such as figures from other communities that have their own police forces.

Mineola Mayor Jack M. Martins formed the committee, which includes Curry, Edward Curran, Mineola Fire Department Ex-Chief Walter Crosby, Linda Doell, Ray Leonard, Tom Rudolph, Mineola Auxiliary Police Chief Michael Spae, Larry Speciner, Mineola Fire Department Chief Scott Strauss, Rick Ueland and Jim Lamonica, to study whether having a police force could be feasible since the mayor is concerned with the amount of coverage the village is receiving from the Nassau County Police Department.

Village of Mineola taxpayers are currently paying $10 million to Nassau County, $4 million of which goes for coverage from headquarters for for detectives, investigators, homicide squads and other broad county personnel and equipment. If the village were to form its own police department, taxpayers would still be paying $4 million to the county for service rendered for headquarters. However, taxpayers wouldn't be paying $6 million for coverage from the Nassau County Police 3rd Precinct. Instead, the taxpayers would be supporting their own police force.

Currently, coverage in the village from the 3rd Precinct amounts to three and a half patrol cars. The concern is that isn't enough to adequately protect the village. Not only do some believe the coverage in Mineola is not adequate, but Nassau County PBA president Gary DelaRaba believes the county has reached a critical point when it comes to police coverage.

The union leader who held a press conference on June 30 announcing the campaign believes Nassau County is badly in need of additional police officers. "It can no longer be ignored that the amount of police officers that are eligible to retire aren't going to be replaced in a proper fashion. Within the next four years, 62 percent of the force is eligible to retire," DelaRaba said. "There's no plan for the future in terms of policing. Right now, we are almost at the breaking point. When you don't have enough police officers to work the patrol cars, you don't have enough cars on the road, we are entering a crisis."

According to DelaRaba, the Nassau County Police, when the campaign for more officers began last month, the police force was 350 to 370 police officers short. "And that would be just to cover the basics and that would be patrol. That would be to cut overtime down to a manageable number," he said.

According to the PBA, the Nassau Police Department consists of 2,460 officers, the lowest in total in the last 40 years. "We don't have enough police officers now to respond to major crime issues such as gang problems," said Superior Officers Association President Gary Learned. It's our opinion that we're severely understaffed."

When Suozzi took office as county executive, Nassau County was in a fiscal crisis. During his campaign before he was elected in 2001, part of Suozzi's platform was the need for tougher negotiations with unions. It seemed it was going to take some sacrifice for Nassau to pull itself out of its financial hole.

According to DelaRaba, during the Suozzi administration, the county lost approximately 500 officers through attrition.

In his 2004 state of the county address, Suozzi touted the savings of over $100 million a year by eliminating more than 1,100 jobs or 12 percent of the work force.

While it may have been necessary to save money to put the county back on the road to fiscal recovery, the PBA believes it shouldn't be at the expense of public safety.

In December 2003, Suozzi, together with Police Commissioner James Lawrence, announced a multi-year plan that would include the hiring of 405 police officers over the next 24 months.

In July, 44 officers were sworn in, making them the first police officers to be hired since 1999. At the graduation ceremony, Suozzi said, "Thanks to the efforts of the men and women of the Nassau County Police Department, we have the lowest crime rate in more than 30 years and Nassau continues to have one of the lowest crime rates of any municipality with a population of over one million people."

Then early this month, 156 new police recruits were sworn in. According to Suozzi's office, the police department has recently received a major upgrade in funding and resources as the County's financial situation has dramatically improved. As a result, 220 new police cars are replacing older cars in the fleet and a $40 million state-of-the-art radio communication system is being developed.

While the county replenishes its police force and the PBA puts pressure on Suozzi to do so, thoughts in Mineola have turned to starting a village police force since three and a half patrol cars in the village may not be optimum coverage.

Learned, the Superior Officers Association president, worked in the 3rd Precinct for 17 years as a lieutenant. "When I first started there, in the Village of Mineola, we had scooter people who were there writing tickets; we had foot patrol. Now what's happened is, technically if you looked at the chart for the precinct, there are three and a half cars there, but we're so understaffed that those cars are constantly busy all day long. On a day tour, those cars are not riding the streets of Mineola, they could be going to headquarters to assist in prisoner transports. They could be riding into Williston Park, taking reports," he said.

With the police department union leaders claiming the department is severely understaffed, residents with quality of life problems such as speeding down a street or cars running a stop sign, or in the case of Maple Place, vehicles ignoring a one-way sign may be left to wonder if they can get results from Nassau County. "In the older days, we had enough officers where you would send somebody to sit on that stop sign to where nobody would go through it again. We don't have that capability anymore," said Learned.

While Mayor Martins has stated that the Nassau County Police officers are professionals, he is willing to look at a way for the Village of Mineola to receive the best police protection possible.

Ironically, the City of Glen Cove, where Suozzi makes his home, has its own police force.

Deputy Chief Bruce Early of the Glen Cove Police Department sees some pluses and minuses to the city having its own police department.

One plus is that officers get to know the community of Glen Cove. Early said the chief of the Glen Cove Police Department Tim Edwards wants the department to be community oriented. Deputy Chief Early said the police department receives complaints directly and through the mayor's office, which the department can then respond to with a response time Early describes as "excellent."

"We still do it the old-fashioned way. The chief wants the guys to respond. I think we go above and beyond to try to provide the service," Early said.

The City of Glen Cove usually has about four to five cars on patrol, but can have as many as seven cars out on the road, although Early said that is not all that often. However, on Friday and Saturday nights, the department won't have less than five cars on the road.

"We know the area. If we have an area that we think is getting too many burglaries, we'll try to concentrate [on that area]," said Early. "I think in general people on a whole [in Glen Cove] get fairer and better police service."

One thing that must be considered though for Mineola is the cost of starting a department. There is a yearly budget to consider. There is around $9 million in the Glen Cove budget allocated the Glen Cove Police Department. Glen Cove is a city approximately seven square miles with a population of about 27,000 whereas Mineola is two square miles with a population of around 20,000.

Mayor Martins said the idea of implementing a Village of Mineola Police Department must be cost effective for the idea to proceed. If it does prove to be cost effective, the residents will have the ultimate say through a referendum. The committee appointment, which is comprised of village residents from various backgrounds, however, is only in the process of collecting information. However, if Mineola isn't happy with its police protection from Nassau County, it is an idea that may be worth looking into.