Public Safety

Bellport, NY – Suffolk Executive Steve Levy and Police Commissioner Richard Dormer this morning announced the formation of a special roaming unit that will patrol high-activity parks and downtowns in the evening hours during the summer.

The flexible six-officer unit will be on patrol from Tuesdays through Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 2 p.m. and rotate between various locations throughout the county’s seven precincts on a nightly basis.

“This unit will serve to heighten our police presence in hot-spot areas and to provide a safe environment for our residents who are utilizing our parks, community centers and high-activity downtowns during the summer months,” said Levy.

“This type of rotating unit allows us to provide concentrated enforcement that complements local precinct patrols and town enforcement efforts,” Dormer added.

The team will concentrate on high-activity parks during the early part of the shift, and then deploy to downtown villages once the parks close (typically at 9 or 10 p.m.). The centralized unit will be able to be deployed to parks and villages experiencing high-activity or hosting special events, including (but not limited to):

First Precinct:
Bowben Mack Park (N Amityville)
Tanner Park (Copiague)
Phelps Lane (N Babylon)
Giger Park (Wheatley Heights)
Herman Grimm
Wyandanch Park
Babylon Village

Second Precinct:
Ostego Park (Dix Hills)
Huntington Village
Northport Village

Third Precinct:
Timberline Park
Brentwood Soccer Fields
Bay Shore Village
Islip Village

Fourth Precinct:
Smithtown Village

Fifth Precinct:
Martha Avenue Park (Bellport)
Patchogue Village
Sayville Village

Sixth Precinct:
Race Avenue Park (Medford)
Rocketship Park  (Port Jefferson)
Port Jefferson Village

Seventh Precinct:
Kaler Pond Park (Center Moriches)
Grandview Park (Shirley)
Mastic-Mastic Beach

Under the Levy administration, statistics maintained by the New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Suffolk Police Department show that overall crime has decreased by 17.5% from 2003 (the year before Levy took office) to 2009 (the last complete year of data). This includes an 11% decrease in Part I Index crimes (murder/manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; aggravated assault; burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft) and a 20.5% decrease in Part II crimes.

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Hauppauge, NY – Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy labeled as “highly reprehensible” comments made by legislative Public Safety Chairman Jack Eddington that ‘…people are afraid to come out of their homes’ in Bellport and North Bellport, and said the committee “is continuing on a dangerous and costly union-backed effort to wrest control of the department from management at the expense of taxpayers.”

“Legislator Eddington’s vindictiveness against the police department is so perverted that he continues to shout about a massive crime wave in Bellport, when the statistics compiled by New York State and the FBI demonstrate a remarkable 23% drop in Part I index crimes in those communities over the last year,” said Levy. “All he does is devalue the hard work of our police force, and degrade entire communities’ reputations.”

Levy stated that according to New York State Department of Criminal Justice Services statistics, Part I Index Crimes in 2009 were down in Bellport by 27.7% compared to 2008, and down by 19.3% in North Bellport. Part I Index Crimes are: murder/manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft.

PART I INDEX CRIMES (Bellport and N. Bellport)

*Statistics for North Bellport were tabulated under Bellport in 2003.

Part I INDEX CRIMES (Entire Police District)

“Scare tactics are nothing new, especially with law enforcement unions,” Levy said, citing campaigns taking place in Stockton, California and Sacramento, California where municipal law enforcement unions have taken out billboards and radio ads citing crime statistics and actually telling the public ‘we can no longer protect you’.

"The ironic difference is that unlike those California cases, in this county we are not talking about laying off any officers and we have not laid off any officers – the legislative squabble is about how many more we can afford to hire in a second class, and it is in the union’s best interest to advocate for as many as possible to swell their ranks,” Levy said.

The county executive said that Eddington, a majority of the Public Safety committee and other legislators continue to point to a small sampling of statistics where increases occurred “to attempt to justify the PBA’s double-barreled desire to add to its ranks and to replace an effective commissioner with one of their own.”

After the Public Safety committee discharged a resolution sponsored by Legislator Jon Cooper to remove Police Commissioner Richard Dormer from office – a measure, Levy noted, the Legislature does not have the statutory right to do – the county executive stated: “Under Commissioner Richard Dormer, overall crime has been reduced by double digits and costs have been brought under control – yet the only thing the PBA and their legislative surrogates care about is regaining control of the department to maximize overtime, perks and benefits.”

“The Legislature’s fixation on the police commissioner has reached absurd levels, and is fueled by PBA rhetoric and political considerations,” he noted, citing an April 26 article in New York Capital News in which Cooper is quoted: “Certainly, I wouldn’t have done the ‘Fire Dormer’ bill if Levy was still a Democrat.”

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