Nassau Authorities Tout Lower Crime For Start Of 2018

At a press conference on Tuesday, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder touted the county's crime numbers for the first quarter of 2018, which are lower in many regards, including murder.

According to Curran and Ryder, there were only 15 reported homicides in Nassau in 2017, making it the lowest year for murder since the 1960s. And so far, 2018 is looking even better — from Jan. 1 to April 23, there was only one murder in the county, down from three for the same period last year. Overall, crime is down 30 percent across the county, officials say.

“Since my nomination and subsequent confirmation of Commissioner Patrick Ryder, his leadership of the Nassau County Police Department has implemented important crime fighting initiatives,” Curran said. “I am proud to say they are working.”

Other initiatives, like those combating opiate use, also seem to be working. According to Curran, fatal opioid overdoses are down 30 percent from last year.

Part of the reason for the reduction, officials say, is the use of real-time reporting that identify clusters of major felonies associated with drug addicts, such as breaking into cars. The system then overlays that information with clusters of overdoses.

Not all crime is down, though. Commercial robbery spiked in the first quarter of 2018, jumping more than 20 percent for the same time last year. Grand larcenies also saw an increase, going up nearly 7 percent.

While most violent crime dropped from the first quarter of 2017 to 2018, rape increased. There were no rapes in 2017, but three in the first quarter of 2018, according to the police statistics. The numbers for criminal sex acts stayed the same, while the number of sexual abuse cases dropped 60 percent.

“The first quarter in Nassau County, the police department has been extremely productive in keeping our residents, communities and police officers safe,” Ryder said. “With 177 patrol vehicles on patrol on a daily basis, the police officers operating those vehicle are making visits to schools daily, thus keeping our lines of communication open and keeping student’s safe... We have tremendous community involvement in our continued effort to rid our neighborhoods of illegal opioids... Gun violence and the crimes associated with them have also decreased over the past five years and total major crime continues to drop, thus making Nassau County one of the safest suburban areas in the United States.”

Curran and Ryder also praised the NCPD for its handling of MS-13 and working to take gang members off the streets. Last week, a threat was made against officers by the gang, which instructed its members to shoot a cop. According to officials, the NCPD reallocated officers to problem areas. With the help of Homeland Security, the NCPD made 46 arrests over the weekend.

Among the arrests was Walter Rodriquez-Valencia, who authorities say is an MS-13 member wanted on charges of attempted murder, assault, robbery, kidnapping and weapons charges. He is currently in ICE custody.

“While we remain cognizant that we have a lot of hard work ahead of us fighting crime in Nassau," Curran said, "this latest quarterly report is a true indicator that we are on the right track."

Photos: Courtesy Nassau County