Nassau County Police 6th Precinct reopening nears

Janelle Clausen
Nassau County police said the 6th Precinct will soon reopen and split from the 3rd Precinct. (Photo courtesy of Richard LeBrun)
Nassau County police said the 6th Precinct will soon reopen and split from the 3rd Precinct. (Photo courtesy of Richard LeBrun)

The Nassau County Police Department has begun staffing arrangements and projects to update the 6th Precinct headquarters in Manhasset, county officials told Blank Slate Media, although an exact opening date is unclear.

“We are working with the Police Department and undertaking the necessary work projects and look forward to reopening soon,” said Karen Contino, a Nassau County spokeswoman.

Detective Lt. Richard LeBrun, the commanding officer of the public information office, said that “infrastructure modifications” to the 6th Precinct’s old building in Manhasset are underway and staffing is being arranged.

Currently, it serves as a community policing center.

“With that said, the department has promoted an Inspector to be assigned as the Commanding Officer and is working on supplementing administrative staff to be assigned there,” LeBrun said via email, adding that the officer’s name “will be announced when we open it.”

Nassau County merged the 6th Precinct with the 3rd in 2012 as part of an effort to save costs as the county faced a deficit. But the move prompted a steady drumbeat of concerns from North Shore residents about safety.

North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth, who protested the initial closure when she was a county legislator for the 10th District in 2012, said she is “extremely pleased” the county is taking steps to reopen it.

“The closing of the former Sixth Precinct was an ill-conceived plan from the start; the cost-savings that were promised never materialized and police protection for those residents was spread too thin,” Bosworth said in a written statement.

The 3rd Precinct currently stretches as far north as Glen Head and south as East Meadow. (Photo courtesy of the Nassau County Police Department)
The 3rd Precinct currently stretches as far north as Glen Head and south as East Meadow. (Photo courtesy of the Nassau County Police Department)

Currently, the 3rd Precinct covers the Plandomes, Flower Hill, Manhasset, North Hills, Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Sea Cliff, Greenvale, Glen Cove and parts of Great Neck, as well as New Hyde Park, Garden City Park, Mineola, Carle Place, Searingtown, Albertson, the Willistons, Carle Place, Westbury and East Garden City.

According to an old map provided to Blank Slate Media by LeBrun, the 6th Precinct will again cover parts of Great Neck, Manhasset, the Plandomes, North Hills, Glen Head, Sea Cliff and Manorhaven – currently the northern half of the merged 3rd Precinct.

The revised 3rd Precinct will cover New Hyde Park, Garden City Park, Mineola, the Willistons, Searingtown, Albertson, Roslyn Heights, Carle Place, Westbury and East Garden City.

LeBrun said the number of supervisor and police officer positions will be the same  “as the department never reduced patrol resources when the 6th Precinct actually closed.”

The Nassau County Legislature voted unanimously in November to set aside $1.6 million for the reopening of the 6th Precinct based in Manhasset and the 8th Precinct in Levittown – or $800,000 for each – in 2019.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran then moved to sue the county Legislature over changes made to the budget, namely $1.6 million added to reopen the 6th and 8th precincts, over a lack of “public notice of legislative spending increases.”

At the time she also said the county did not have enough money and that there were not enough detectives, but later reversed course, saying she “recognized the need to reopen” the precincts when she was running for county executive.

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