Patrol car shortage forces Nassau cops to double up
Nassau police have a shortage of marked patrol cars, sometimes forcing officers to double up because there are no spares available.
The doubled-up car must then patrol the same area normally assigned to two cars, according to the police union, affecting response times.
Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey acknowledged the shortage - officials say nearly a third of patrol cars are out of service at any one time - but said it was not as severe as the union contended. He said he has ordered that some unmarked cars be painted the white and orange of patrol vehicles and equipped with emergency lights as he awaits replacements.
County Executive Thomas Suozzi included money to buy 90 cars a year in his capital budget for the next four years, but the deadline for adopting a capital budget passed on Dec. 15. Because legislators and the county executive are arguing over the capital budget, it delayed the purchase of the police cars. The cars fully loaded cost about $29,000 each, police officials said.
Suozzi and the county legislature are exchanging charges of foot-dragging on the negotiations, which historically have continued into the spring of the following year.
The first new cars will not be ready for months because of the purchasing timetable, and the need to paint them and equip them with flashing lights and other emergency equipment.
The average patrol vehicle has 77,000 miles on it. And about 100 cars of the 327-car patrol fleet is out of service at any given time, up from an average of about 66 in recent years, Mulvey said. "As cars do break down, there are short periods of time where officers may be doubled, but we [bring] in a car, and that's extended to, on a couple of occasions, beyond that one tour," he said in an interview. "But we don't have a situation where people are coming to work day in and day out and are doubled up because there are no spares."
Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) said to him: "We're all looking for a meeting with the county executive, so we'll find out as soon as we can. . . .
Union rep: Cars needed now
However, Peter Paterson, first vice president of the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association, testified before the county legislature on Dec. 15 that the situation was "horrendous."
"Cars are like down to nothing. . . . I'm here today to stress: We need vehicles and we need them now," he said. He said later that while some vehicles are in bad shape, officers do not take them out if there is a safety issue.
He said that officers have been forced to double up in both the Second Precinct, in Woodbury, and the Eighth Precinct, in Levittown. He added that at various times there were no replacement vehicles in six of the eight precincts.
While Mulvey said the car shortage is a concern, his boss, Deputy County Executive Francis X. Ryan, denied there was a problem. "We are comfortable with the number of cars we have out there today," he said in an interview.
Budget talk frustration
Leaders of both political parties said Suozzi had failed to begin serious negotiations after submitting a 2009 capital budget on Oct. 15 that was trimmed to $117 million from an initial projection of $140 million.
Bruce Nyman, a Suozzi spokesman, said, "That's nonsense; the county executive met [Dec. 19] with both legislative leaders and we are getting close to a final agreement."
Minority Leader Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) said at the Dec. 1 meeting of the legislature that "the capital budget is not forthcoming until such time as the county executive stops running for lieutenant governor or anything else and comes down here and talks to us."
As a police union official walked away from the podium at the Dec. 15 meeting, Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) said to him: "We're all looking for a meeting with the county executive, so we'll find out as soon as we can. . . . We've put in dates that we want to speak with him on this particular issue and on this topic, and certainly your coming down has made this a priority for us."
Suozzi, Schmitt and Yatauro met Dec. 19 and said afterward that they were still negotiating and might have a capital budget ready by the next meeting of the legislature on Jan. 12.
Posted Monday, January 5, 2009
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