Mineola Police Department - opinions

Anyone have opinions on this?

Another waste of taxpayers Money, Thank the Democrats for that.

Every time a Village has gone on its own they have found that they badly underestimated the costs. If the voters approve this I doubt that it will last 5 years. I wish them luck, but believe that the odds are against them. As far as the area being free of crime there is a growing gang presence in Mineola, made up of mostly illegal immigrants. They probably do need more coverage than they are currently getting, but Nassau does not have enough officers to give them more without taking them from somewere else. The point of having police, a DA, and courts is to keep crime rates down. Demographics help, but they are changing in ways that do not show on official census reports.

Hey Pro Cop...you really need to change your name. Unless of course you think everyone on these boards are as dumb as you are! If your that unhappy just move!

This vote is being run like a political campaign.
Perhaps because it IS a political campaign!
For posters and lawn signs to made and posted all around Mineola, someone has a vested interest in this police force.

There is money to be made, Jobs to be GIVEN.
The Community has no right to be called "independent".
Those who boast their police force credentials are glazing over the point. THEY HAVE POLICE CREDENTIALS! They have an interest in this, i.e. Lifelong, easy going JOBS!
Get with it people! It's all about money and helping out the cronies!
I'm disgusted with the ignorance of this community.

Call me a cynic, or call me aware, just get me the hell out of this ever sinking village.

You may be right about it costing less, but past experience has been otherwise. If the Village believes it needs more police, and is willing to take on the costs, more power to them, community policing does work.

Most of the villages that have their own depts have had them for many years, and they are willing to bear the cost. But most of the ones that I know of who left have come back.(Woodsberg, Manorhaven) If Mineola can make it work for them, more power to them. As far as tickets go I thought the village had code enforcement for parking, and the village gets their percentage from village court already. Now if you are talking about turning the village into a speed trap that is an other issue.

Dom Durasmo wrote:

Manorhaven was aborbed by the NCPD back in 1933.
Woodsburgh (this is the correct spelling by the way) was absored by the NCPD in 1987. However, it's population is only 800 people. You cannot support a police force with only 800 residents, no matter how rich the area is. Also don't forget these failures happened before the rise of police costs to the county started becoming unbearable.
Get your facts straight.

Adjusted for inflation I don't think the costs were much different. Second Woodsburgh thought they could afford it, they made a mistake. Manorhaven ha been looking into getting out for years, but Port Washington does not want them, I think Port diod cover them for a while, I"m not sure, and they can't afford their own.. I wish the village well, no matter how the vote comes out.

IamNot ANumber wrote:

This vote is being run like a political campaign.
Perhaps because it IS a political campaign!
For posters and lawn signs to made and posted all around Mineola, someone has a vested interest in this police force.
There is money to be made, Jobs to be GIVEN.
The Community has no right to be called "independent".
Those who boast their police force credentials are glazing over the point. THEY HAVE POLICE CREDENTIALS! They have an interest in this, i.e. Lifelong, easy going JOBS!
Get with it people! It's all about money and helping out the cronies!
I'm disgusted with the ignorance of this community.
Call me a cynic, or call me aware, just get me the hell out of this ever sinking village.

I am not a police officer, but I believe it's against the law to be a retired officer of one department and join another. Essentially, the task force was comprised of retired NYP and NCPD officers, so can someone please either correct me or "IamNot ANumber".

Here is another letter to the Editor of Newsday

Dear Newsday,
With regards to Mineola voting on starting their own police force (11/29: Suozzi: New cop force unlikely) I find it quite odd that Mr. Suozzi is surprised that it has gone this far and stated “I can’t believe they’ll approve it”. I know he was asked his opinion, but for him to state that "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it” regarding the potential of Nassau County suing the village if it is approved is ridiculous.
This study has been in the public eye for more than two years and has an extensive report indicating that Mineola can receive more police coverage for less money than Nassau County currently provides. Mr. Suozzi has known about this for just as long and to make this statement a week before the vote is just plain scare tactics at work. This referendum is not an indictment of the Nassau County Police Department, because they do a fine job, but it does illustrate that the village pays over $6.7 million a year for 2-3 officers on each tour.
The report was developed by a task force of unpaid residents of the village with most of them being retired Nassau County and New York City Police Officers. Their qualifications are impressive where they have extensive backgrounds in law enforcement and operational experience. The village also put out to bid to have a consulting firm create another study. When the two operational proposals came back it was concluded that the firms did not have the qualifications, especially since neither company has ever done this before. Also, the citizens would have had to shell out well over $100,000.00 to do it. That being the case, innuendos of task force’s motive to find favorable results has come up so they can seek positions in the new police force or just for political reasons. By law, a retired police officer of one department cannot be part of another. Also, the residents on the task force live here, pay taxes here and will be held accountable for the results and facts they have reported. Unlike county police taxes, residents in the future can have a say about where their money is spent with a local police department.
The task force’s due diligence has come up with a finding that shows Mineola can afford there own department, just like over 20 other villages and provide an opportunity for more officers to proactively patrol the village versus being a reactive force due to cuts in the Nassau County Police budget. Over the last 8 years they have lost over 400 officers and that’s a shame, but for some reason our police patrol tax goes up considerably each year. It just doesn’t make sense.
Mineola is a safe place to live and I believe we want to keep it that way, but why do we need to pay so much money for decreasing service. I also believe Mr. Suozzi’s comments are fueled by knowing that the county will lose the $6.7 million generated from the village as a patrol tax. Based on an article written last year it was reported that a good portion of this tax money is currently being taken away from the NCPD officers to subsidize the county’s general fund. This in itself isn’t fair to Mineola and Long Island residents alike who use the NCPD for protection. So even though Mr. Suozzi states one week before the vote that he isn’t taking sides on the issue, his opinion that the referendum won’t pass and the lawsuit comment sounds a bit self-serving and political.

I think that what bothers Suozzi the most is that Mineola is officially the county seat, even if the offices are really in Garden City!

It's getting ugly in Mineola.

People are going around in the middle of the night and stealing "Yes" signs off other resident's lawns. The funny thing is all of the "No" signs are still out, so I guess you can't blame the wind.

If people don't believe this turned political, I am not sure what planet they are living on.

Another thing to consider is that the $6.7mn has not been used to patrol the quality of life issues like graffiti, young gang roaming and homeless people living in a Gazebo.

Although the Mineola force will not be able to forcibly remove a homeles person from a Gazebo, they will be more able to patrol and monitor the situation, preventing the homeless person from committing a crime or someone else from commiting a crime against the homeless person.

Will this cost more? I doubt it. There is about $1.5mn left over to cover additional expenses. But lets say the costs overrun the estimate by $1mn. This should still be "about even" because the police department will not take effect until 2008, at which time the county cost for the village is likely to be another million higher than it is.

So there is room to have community police patrol quality of life issues, like the homeless man in the gazebo.

I am the homeless man who lives in a Gazebo. I take offense to the earlier assertion that I need to be monitored more closely. A Gazebo is a great low income housing alternative and a great place to start a family with girl with pretty hair. Some of us were not as lucky in life as others and had to suffer through facing the reality that living off our fathers would not yield millions of dollars in income.
What's even better about the Gazebo is the free food I get from the MS-13 gang. They are really great people. To the people that don't like me living in their public park, do I deny them the right to live in the house they paid for!!!
The police never bother me, although they work 4 blocks from my home. The Mineola Police force would bother me much more. I plan on voting no .

CMR wrote:

<quoted text>
I am not a police officer, but I believe it's against the law to be a retired officer of one department and join another. Essentially, the task force was comprised of retired NYP and NCPD officers, so can someone please either correct me or "IamNotANumber".

You bring up an interesting point, admittedly I'm not sure about the retired issue. But I do KNOW active police officers that work for villages while off-duty; earning years towards 2 pensions.

This does not discount the fact that their are jobs ready to be handed out. People do have friends & family.

Anyone have info on being retired and working?

Vote Yes wrote:

The Nassau County Pig Department is responsible for the theft of the stolen signs. They realize the implications of this Mineola Village Police Force... and they are scared!

I still want to know who paid for the "yes" AND "No" Signs and flyers.

Questionable passion on each side.

The village needs to crack down on illegal housing, will this new police force do this?
Will they risk being called a "racist" police force?

Nothing will change in Mineola other than higher taxes and bored, overpaid cops sitting around all day ticketing residents.

But laying around on couches is the greatest thing in the world. If not then I suggest laying down in a police car around Dunken Donuts, doing nothing and making $100k a year. That is why we need to stay in the Nassau County Police force. It's not about protecting the citizens, it's about protecting $100k salaries and free donuts from Dunken.

Vote No to protect obsene welfare

IamNot ANumber wrote:

<quoted text>
I still want to know who paid for the "yes" AND "No" Signs and flyers.
Questionable passion on each side.
The village needs to crack down on illegal housing, will this new police force do this?
Will they risk being called a "racist" police force?
Nothing will change in Mineola other than higher taxes and bored, overpaid cops sitting around all day ticketing residents.

You can only get a ticket if you do not follow the VTL. Stop speeding, yield to pedestrians, come to a complete stop at a stop sign, do not run red lights follow this and you won't put the public at risk and ultimately not get any tickets.

When your kid gets hit by someone who didn't come to a complete stop at a stop sign, speeding, or ran a red light, then you will ask, "Where were the cops and how come he didn't get a ticket." When you get a ticket for the same infraction, it's all the "bored" cops fault or, why don't you catch "real criminals". What a wonderful job they have, damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Damned to hell for laying around doing no work for 20 years, taking taxpayer money. VOTE NO!

mikey c, enjoy your job in manhattan working til social security!!! what a moron, you should have taken the police test.