Editor's Note: This article was written by Claudia Borecky.
We have yet to receive a response from the Nassau County Police regarding our recommendations for measures to be taken to make our school crossings safer for our children and our crossing guards.
Yet, in light of the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, we are very concerned with the safety of our children. Since becoming a civic leader, I've seen the First Precinct go from having four problem-oriented police officers (POP) to having only one POP officer and we may need to share that one POP officer with the Seventh Precinct when the two precincts consolidate.
We were told that consolidation will not occur for several months. We are promised that we will have the same amount of police officers on the street as we have now. However, we lost more than 400 officers in the last few years and are dangerously working with a bare minimum. The POP Officers unit has been severely cut.
The heroin and gang units have been eliminated. The traffic unit has been eliminated so that in times of emergencies, we did not have a sufficient force to keep our highways and street intersections safe.
The NCMCA opposes the consolidation of the police precincts. It is costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to renovate the four precincts to accommodate the consolidation and is not saving taxpayers one penny.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
