Vote on Nassau Precinct Merger Postponed

Monday's legislative vote to merge Nassau police precincts under County Executive Ed Mangano's new  has been postponed one week, according to both county and police union officials.

Both the county and Nassau Police Benevolent Association said the vote was postponed in an attempt to find "common ground" in regards to the potential precinct merger.

"Law enforcement unions and I negotiated throughout the weekend.  Discussions were progressive," Mangano told Patch. "Accordingly, the vote will be recessed for one week."

PBA President Jim Carver said that his organization sat down with the county last week and believes they will get together again today, along with the Superior Officers Association (SOA) and the Nassau Detectives' Association (DAI).

"Maybe there's resolution that we can find," Carver told Patch. "... This was just [a way] to slow everything down and give us a little time to see if we can find some common ground here. And if we can't? We can't."

Carver had  that the county was not giving enough thought to the merger and was rushing into something that he believed could negatively change policing for the next 50 years.

Under the proposal, the current eight precincts would merge into four precincts, while the Eighth Precinct, which serves parts of Massapequa, Farmingdale, Bethpage and Plainedge would become a Community policing center.

Legis. Peter Schmitt, R-Massapequa, who is also the Presiding Officer of the County Legislature, confirmed that "The County Executive has asked us to postpone the vote"  because of the negotiations going on, but would not comment further.

Legis. Joseph Belesi, R-Farmingdale, a former police officer, who is a retired Nassau Police Officer and is believed to be a possible swing vote on the issue was in the hospital for tests after falling ill over the weekend, according to Cristina Brennan, a spokeswoman for the Legislative Majority.

Belesi voted earlier this month to move the vote out of committee.

Nassau Democrats have said they will block the vote on the current plan, however Republicans hold a 10-9 majority in the legislature.

The vote will now tentatively take place on Monday, March 5.

Edward Robinson contributed to this report.