'It's Like Triage': Nassau Cases Shelved Amid Detective Shortage

MINEOLA, NY — Nassau County has a detective problem. Specifically, a massive shortage where police officers are no longer applying to become detectives. Cases are brushed aside — and piling up.

That's according to the commissioner of Nassau County police, the county executive's office and the union that represents the county's detectives.

Nassau County has budgeted for 360 detectives, but the department currently has 300. One of them plans to retire soon. Street cops simply aren't applying for detective promotions like they once did. What's worse, seven recently submitted requests to give up their detective shield and return to patrol duties, John Wighaus, president of the Nassau County Detectives Association, told Patch in a phone interview Monday.

Detective cases are piling up.

"It's like triage," said Wighaus. "Cases come in that you have to handle right away, and then some get pushed off to the side. There isn't attention to some of these cases like we'd normally have."

Patrick Ryder, the police commissioner, told Patch in a statement Monday his department knows about the shortage. Both he and the office of County Executive Laura Curran faulted past contracts for the low pay bump.

"The department is aware of the shortage of detectives and is proactively working to rectify the issue and recruit new detectives," Ryder said. "Past contractual issues have made this process difficult. Here in Nassau County we have historical decreases in crime thanks to the dedicated work of our officers and detectives."

Christine Geed, a spokeswoman for the county, told Patch in a phone interview the county doesn't discuss collective bargaining through the media. While the Curran administration agrees there aren't enough detectives in the department, the county faulted the architects of the previous contract, which was agreed upon during the previous administration.

"The way it was laid out, it made it much more advantageous to remain a police officer than to upgrade to a detective," said Geed. "So if it's more advantageous to be a police officer where the benefits are better, the pay is better, then why would people want to become a detective?"

Wighaus said two precincts opened recently and aren't fully functioning. They don't have a detective squad.

"That's not the way it's supposed to be," he said.

In 2018, just seven detectives handled 300 gang cases alone, mostly violent felonies involving street gangs such as MS-13, Bloods, Crips and 18th Street.

The shortage stems from money. While the county funding is there, the pay increases aren't enough to incentivize police officers to seek promotions. When Wighaus became a detective in 1997, about 250 police officers applied each year to become a detective.

"At that time you were able to take the best of the best," he said. "The most experienced police officers would become detectives."

Today, that number is down to about two or three per year for the entire county. And those applicants might not even have the required three years of experience necessary to become a detective. That leaves the police department with a tough decision — either promote inexperienced officers or don't promote at all. Recently, officers with just two years of experience have been promoted, and that leads to its own problems.

"Sometimes somebody with two years experience might not be proficient in doing an accident report," said Wighaus. "And then they make detective. They go into work and handle a homicide or robbery case, and they might not be experienced enough to handle it right."

Detectives manage crime scenes from start to finish, questioning witnesses and victims, gathering evidence and following cases through the court system. But the promotion comes with a pay raise of just $2,400.

The detective association has been without a contract for about a year and nine months, said Wighaus, who became president about two years ago. The detective shortage has been ongoing since he took over. The union hopes to use collective bargaining to change the police pay grade system. Under the previous contract, 44 detectives were paid like police officers.

"We have to incentivize and retain our detectives," he said.

The association has been negotiating a new contract with the county executive's office for the last few months. Another round of talks is planned this week.

Both Curran's office and Wighaus's union said they want to fix the contract incentives.