Precinct Plan Presented at Neighborhood Watch Meeting

Levittown residents got an up-close look at Nassau County's precinct redistricting plan at a community neighborhood watch meeting Thursday night at Division Avenue High School.

First Deputy Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter and Chief Deputy County Executive Rob Walker shed perspective on the plan, which was first revealed by the County on Monday. The plan calls for the restructuring of four precincts, including Levittown's Eighth Precinct, into community policing centers. 

The changes were made in an effort to curtail rising taxes. Walker told the community that the plan will save $20 million in tax dollars.

"I’m telling you right now, if we change nothing, we actually have to raise taxes by 18 percent," Krumpter said. "And that’s what we’re fighting off this year. We’re fighting off a tax increase."

The new community policing centers, according to Krumpter, will still allow residents to request accident reports and crime reports, as they would at a precinct. The main difference is that the centers will not process criminals. They will be handled at the precincts. (In the case of current Eighth Precinct residents, that precinct would be the Second Precinct.)

"We're going to inconvenience one large group of people," Krumpter said. "People who break the law."

According to Krumpter, the conversion of the four precincts will eliminate 156 jobs located in those precincts. 48 of those officers will be reassigned as Problem Oriented Police (POP) officers, while the rest will be handled through attrition.

The plan will raise the number of POP officers covering the Second and Eighth Precinct areas from two to 14. "You'll go from the equivalent of 3,000 hours of staffing annually to 21,000 hours of staffing," said Krumpter.

"We want to have cops on the street," said Walker. "That's where they belong."

The addition of POP officers tied in to concerns raised by residents at the meeting over youths loitering in fields and public areas, causing destruction to buildings nearby in some cases. (One resident mentioned an incident where the youths had a pizza delivered while they were loitering.) POP officers deal specifically with these types of incidents.

The ultimate location for the community policing center in Levittown is unclear. At first, the eighth precinct building will be converted into the center. Krumpter told the community that the final location may change based on feedback from community leaders and community members.

Krumpter said that legislation on the plan will first go before the Nassau Legislature on Friday. Legis. Dennis Dunne (R-Levittown), who ran the community watch meeting, told residents that he was currently formulating his opinion on the plan.

“My job is to hear from the administration, the police unions and then hear you and get a global view of what it is before I make up my mind,” he said. “I don’t represent the County Executive, I don’t represent the police. I represent you. That’s why I want to hear from you.”

Among the community leaders in attendance included Bob Koenig, the president of the Levittown Community Council. Koenig listened to the presentation and seemed open to the County's plan.

"I wouldn't want [fewer] patrols for the community, but more," he said. "If this new plan [puts] more police in the streets watching over the citizens, it is a good plan, and it is cutting corners without losing security."