You Choose: Top Police and Fire Stories of 2011

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An alleged SAT/ACT cheating scandal rocked several North Shore high schools, where students paid between $500 to $3,600 to four test takers from 2008 through 2011 to take the exams. Students arrested had attended Great Neck North High School, Great Neck South High School, North Shore Hebrew Academy, and Roslyn High School, according to the Nassau County District Attorney. The case made national headlines.

Four Brooklyn men were arrested in October  at London Jewelers Watch Boutique and Gift Gallery, located in the Americana Manhasset shopping center, according to Nassau County Police.

Kings Point Police in December arrested a Great Neck man in December suspected of  before releasing her unharmed in Kings Point. The woman, who knew of a similar abduction that had occurred just two weeks earlier, recognized him from a police sketch, police say. The woman refused to speak to him, and called police, according to detectives. 

Neary 70 cats were found caged on the property of the . Most of the cats were nursed back to health according to the , which along with North Shore Animal League America, tended to the cats. According to the Glen Cove Animal League, the animals are faring well. Many were adopted, and there are about 20 who still need homes. The matter remains under investigation, according to a spokesman for the Nassau DA.

The  fought a fully involved fire at 4 Sousa Drive in Sands Point. Assisting the PWFD were Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department, Roslyn Fire Department and Great Neck. Also on the scene were Sands Point Police Department and Nassau  County Police Department. 

 responded to 271 calls, 48 of which were ambulance calls, from That included calls during the threatening yet short-staying Tropical Storm Irene, as well as six working fires within a four-day period. “There were no deaths or injuries during the entire [10-day] period, and no reportable fire department injuries,” Chief Geoffrey Cole said at the time. 

Sad news in Port Washington when  in October about 150 yards offshore from the , Nassau County Police said. The divers were searching for a 25-year-old missing person who fell into the water after a rowboat capsized in Manhasset Bay. Three other men believed to be in a boat that day had swam to moored vessels, where they were rescued by a Manhasset Bay Yacht Club tender operator, according to police. 

A male bicyclist was killed in Port Washington in September on an early Sunday morning when he was struck by a vehicle, said. A woman driving a 2007 Honda sedan struck the bicyclist, Alex Flores, a 21 year old male, who was headed north on Port Washington Boulevard at Marino Avenue at 4:16 a.m., according to police. The incident is still under investigation, police say.