MINEOLA POLICE TASK FORCE UNDERWAY

The recently formed Village Police Task Force is currently underway researching if it is economically feasible for the Village of Mineola to have its own Police Department.

The Task Force volunteers currently consist of the following: John Curry, Chairman, Edward Curran, MFD Former Chief Walter Crosby, Linda Doell, Ray Leonard,Tom Rudolph, MAPD Chief Michael Spae, Larry Speciner, MFD Chief Scott Strauss, Rick Ueland and Jim Lamonica.

Mayor Jack M. Martins who attended the first meeting of the Task Force, thanked the members for their time and commitment to this project and assured them that he will not intercede in their research. "I ask that you thoroughly study if the village could afford running its own police force," Mayor Martins said. "From a quality of life standpoint, we know that we can better serve the residents with our police force but now we have to make sure it makes sense financially. "

Currently, village taxpayers shell out $10 million every year to the Nassau County Police Department. $4 million of that amount is a "headquarters tax" and mainly for detectives, investigators, homicide squads and other broad county personnel and equipment that the village would need even if it had its own police department. The additional $6 million is afforded to the 3rd Precinct which provides four patrol cars, one of which is shared with the Village of East Williston .

Mayor Martins has been exploring the concept of a village police force because he feels that for the amount of money Mineola taxpayers are paying for 3 ½ cars, more can be done to protect and serve village residents. Comparing to other villages of the same size and population, he believes it is possible to have a police staff that could amount up to 30 or 40 officers at the same or less of a cost to the taxpayers.

If the Task Force determines that a police force is economically feasible, a final step before instituting the plan would be to put the idea on a referendum and let the public decide if this is something that they want. "It is important that our residents be fully educated as to both positive and negative aspects of this proposal," Mayor Martins said. "Nothing will be done without the majority of residents deciding that this is a good thing for the village."

"In keeping with our policy of open government, not only will residents be kept apprised of progress on this issue, nothing will be decided or done without a full opportunity for input from the community," Mayor Martins said. "This issue is just that important. We can all complain about loitering, speeding cars, cars going through stop signs, etc. etc., but this would actually give us an opportunity to address these issues as a community. We just have to make sure it makes sense financially. It has to pay for itself."

The Task Force agreed not to set a deadline on the study because it could undermine the process and prevent a thorough study. However, they have set a schedule for themselves and have broken the group into sub-committees for members to study specific areas.