Valley Streamers concerned about precinct plan

The 5th Precinct in Elmont will be one of four precincts in Nassau County transformed into a Community Policing Center, County Executive Ed Mangano announced at press conference on Jan. 30. Mangano said the plan would save Nassau County $20 million annually.

Under the Community Policing plan (COP), the new centers will not handle administrative paperwork or criminal processing, but will still have officers on duty at all times.

There are currently eight police precincts in Nassau County. The other precincts that will become Community Policing Centers are the 1st Precinct in Baldwin, the 6th Precinct in Manhasset and the 8th Precinct in Levittown.

“This plan keeps all 177 patrol cars in their current neighborhoods,” Mangano said, “assigns more cops to POP and opens four new Community Policing Centers throughout the county while increasing efficiencies.”

Problem Oriented Police (POP) are community police officers and each precinct used to have four to five “POP Cops” at one time, though staffing changes and layoffs reduced their number. Mangano’s plan would reassign 48 officers from desk jobs to POP units and special patrols.

The 4th Precinct in Hewlett will be one of four precincts that will remain the same. With the 5th Precinct set to become a Community Policing Center, the closest precinct to Valley Stream’s will be the 4th. The mayor of Valley Stream, Ed Fare, said he is currently gathering as much information as he can on this issue, but has his share of concerns.

“While the 4th Precinct is geographically closer to Valley Stream than the 5th,” Fare said, “the concern of the residents that I hear is they’re going to be overwhelmed with the Green Acres Mall and the crossover crime from Queens that they’re never going to keep up.”

The Valley Stream Civilian Patrol cited the village’s proximity to the city as a cause for concern. “We believe it’s wrong because we are on the borderline with Queens and people come into Valley Stream from Queens,” said Ralph Polverino, president of the Civilian Patrol. “The 5h Precinct should always be open and we need as much protection as possible.”

Local business owner and President of Envision Valley Stream David Sabatino is against the plan because he thinks it cuts too much. “Every person I’ve spoken to has expressed that they are very worried about this plan,” Sabatino said. “They’re worried about crime going up, they’re worried about property values falling, they’re worried about Valley Stream in particular, falling through the cracks when it comes to police presence and the police’s ability to really perform their job here without the 5th Precinct.”