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Health & Fitness

Police Precinct Merger - Policy Or Politics?

Should politicians vote on these types of issues before they have all the information? It's time that we hold them responsible for partisan politics.

Once again, politicians voted on a policy that potentially could be far reaching. Those that agree with Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano argue that the vote  to merge eight of Nassau County's police precincts into four is is a long overdue consolidation and reorganization that could potentially save as much as one $100 million. Some in opposition to this plan question its impact on safety, as well as refuting that the cost savings, if any, will be significantly lower than that the County Executive and his police commissioner anticipate.

However, the real issue here is even more troubling and disconcerting. Even those supporting the plan say they are not sure of the actual details. What was passed was that the police commissioner had the right to reduce the number of police precincts to half of the present level, and that he would be given authority to accomplish this in whatever matter he deemed best. Many of us remember our congressmen and senators voting on the president's health plan in a similar manner, prior to fully understanding or even having the details. The former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, even urged her colleagues to vote positively on that measure so that they could go ahead with the details.

What ever happened to responsible government? We complain about costs, budgets, and taxes, yet votes are taken about important issues without all the necessary details being available.

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Our ever-polarized political circus has created situations, such as those above, where far too many votes are simply pushed through, because of partisan politics. For example, this political precinct vote passed 10-9, entirely along partisan political lines, with all 10 Republicans voting for the change, and all nine Democrats voting in opposition.

Is this plan a good one? Areas such as most of Port Washington, which have its own police department, are impacted to a lesser degree, obviously, than those whose only police is the Nassau County Police Department. Nevertheless, since even part of our peninsula, and villages such as Manorhaven and Flower Hill are serviced by Nassau County Police Department, instead of the , there is a trickle-down impact on the peninsula as a whole. Do we definitively know how this plan will impact response times? Instead of police cars coming from Community Drive in Manhasset, they would now be stationed at precincts further away. How will the additional commute times, especially at the beginning and end of shifts, impact police protection? What is the actual savings, since the buildings will still be opened and will still have utility expenses, and some degree of staffing? How about the impact of additional costs for gas and car maintenance since each police car will, by design, travel a total of more miles, even if only because of the initial and end of shift commute to patrol positions? How will the communication between these newly created community service centers and the central command work? And, what precisely will these centers not do that precincts did, and what will they do? What service will they provide?

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We can argue that either there will be no impact on safety, or that safety will be negatively impacted, but, even proponents do not state that police protection will be enhanced. We can discuss cost savings, but since the estimates given, which appear optimistic, are based on certain assumptions, such as retirements, consolidations, reallocation of personnel, etc., we do not truly know what the reality is. It certainly doesn't appear that the new plan would cost any extra dollars, but without knowing what the true costs and savings are, are the savings worth the risks? All policies should be based on a risk/reward basis, and certainly, this is an important enough topic to have more information in hand, before mandating a vote.

We wonder why so many people appear disenfranchised or disgusted by our political process and the politicians. Is it really surprising when politicians continue to simply play politics with our lives.

I have often spoken out about government waste, and the lack of thinking outside the box. However, change without judgment rarely results in wisdom. This may end up being a good idea, and it may end up being an awful one, but we should not permit politicians to believe it's okay for them to make judgments and vote, without having all the facts.

I remember when votes on important issues were not always strictly along party lines. Since no one political party has an exclusive on being correct, we should hold every politician who consistently votes only along party lines, regardless of ramifications, accountable. Senator Charles Goodell, the late senator from New York, said, "Politicians are like antelopes. When things get tough, they simply paint their behinds white, and run with the crowds." Let's begin to demand more from our politicians, and call them out when politicians just keep playing politics. It's fine to be a politician when you're running (I guess?), but once in office, doesn't the public deserve for them to become statesmen.

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