Wink Blasts Precinct Merger Plan

Blasting it as a "plan written on an Etch A Sketch that changes by the hour with nothing in writing," Nassau County Leg. Wayne Wink, D-Roslyn, denounced the party line passage of a plan 

Decrying the lack of specifics offered by Republicans, Wink depicted the plan as "wistful thinking."

He added that the only other place in the country that closed half of its precincts was Detroit, which reduced its precincts from 12 to six. "Within three years it went back to 12 because it was such a fiasco," regarding crime-fighting and administrative impediments, Wink said.

On Monday, the Legislature passed County Executive 's plan to  In covering North Hempstead communities, the Third Precinct precinct would remain open, and the Sixth Precinct in Great Neck/Manhasset would operate as a community policing center. The plan also calls for 177 patrol cars in Nassau County, but Wink said he hadn't seen that in writing.

The precinct merger plan drew stiff opposition from the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association, whose president, Jim Carver, said it could lead to a spike in crime. "They’re taking 10 pounds of crime and putting it in a five-pound bag," Carver said."

Republicans claim the plan will save millions of dollars while putting more police officers on the street.

“We are bringing the Nassau County Police Department into the 21st Century," said Legislator Joseph Belesi, R-Farmingdale and a former Nassau County police officer. "This realignment plan will save taxpayers millions while adding 48 police officers back onto the street. There will be no reduction in Nassau’s public safety."

“Nassau County is – and will remain – one of the safest counties in this nation," said Peter Schmitt, R-Massapequa, the Legislature's Presiding Officer. "This plan maintains the same number of police vehicles patrolling the county...."

Democrats counter that the Republicans have not shown how the cost savings will actually happen or provided other vital details.

Wink said the only real savings would stem from the reduction of high salaried police through retirement incentives or layoffs.

But without specifics in writing, Wink said there would be no guarantees. "We don't know about staffing, or the number of patrol cars," Wink said, adding, too, that there was nothing to say that the community police centers would remain open.

And while the plan is supposed to begin implementation in 2012, Wink expressed concern about the logistics and administrative details, adding concerns that it would cause "significant issues with police presence and public safety."