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.”

---