County Executive Says Third Precinct Won’t Close

Nassau County will not be closing the according to County Executive Ed Mangano, who spoke to the Tuesday night.

“There will not be a closure of the Third Precinct,” said Mangano, who was asked by Mineola  to address the rumor that the precinct “is on the chopping block” during the monthly meeting at . 

Mangano said that there would be a plan that reduces costs for the police department, and “there may be changes in the way that we operate.” 

The county executive has put forth a plan which calls for administrative changes involving the placement of more officers on the street from their current desk positions. The changes are part of under a new spending plan imposed by a state oversight board.

Mangano would not comment if the changes were for the Third Precinct alone or for all precincts.

“The plan is not out there, the plan will not affect just one precinct,” he said.

Numerous rumors have spread throughout Mineola as well as the which the Third Precinct serves that the precinct would either be shuttered or absorbed into one of the other precincts. Other reports have pegged the as the one which would have shuttered its doors.

The Third Precinct is the largest in Nassau County in terms of coverage area.

“I can’t address every rumor now otherwise I will be piecemealing out a plan that is not been completed,” Mangano told the crowd at the Piccola Bussola restaurant.

Numerous residents have also feared for the elimination of the Problem Oriented Police (POP) unit, one of the last remnants of a “beat” cop left in the modern police force. Mineola’s POP officer is Kevin Sikorski.

“We’re not ending the POP program,” Mangano said, but “there may be some adjustments to it as there may be some adjustments to every unit that the police department has.”

At the May 20 meeting of the , Strauss stated that he had written a letter to Thomas Krumpter, the acting police commissioner, asking to reconsider the possible elimination of the POP program.

“That’s something we really need to hold onto, that bring us a little more I think, one-on-one face time with the police precinct where one person can deal with our problems rather than trying to hit up a patrol car who’s running from job to job,” Strauss said at the time.