New York Attorney General Letitia James denied the request of three Nassau County legislators to establish a third-party oversight office for the county’s Police Department.
Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport), Legislator Siela Bynoe (D-Westbury) and Legislator Carrié Solages (D-Lawrence) all signed a letter sent March 26 after the County Legislature approved a revised 424-page plan to reform and reinvent policing put forward by County Executive Laura Curran on March 22.
The three minority legislators wanted James’ office to establish a remote Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office to identify police misconduct in Nassau County.
James, in a letter sent to the legislators in mid-April, acknowledged the benefits of establishing a remote office and criticized the county for not including “meaningful checks on law enforcement.” She also cited the lack of necessary funding to establish a remote oversight office in Nassau.
She said in the letter that “it is our firm intention that the office give special scrutiny to those jurisdictions where local accountability and formal oversight is lacking, and that certainly includes Nassau County.”
The county’s police reinvention plan, approved 16-3, was submitted in accordance with an executive order that Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed in mid-June, in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, that required each police agency to devise a plan to “reinvent and modernize police strategies” by April 1.
Abrahams, Bynoe and Solages, the three opposing votes on the legislation, said the plan failed to incorporate a civilian complaint review board or inspector general to investigate allegations of police misconduct.
As of now, the county relies on the state Law Department’s Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office for oversight of the Police Department. The legislators proposed to have a regional branch of the office focus solely on any misconduct in the department.
Bynoe also said she wanted the plan to enhance the department’s Early Intervention System, which deals with at-risk officers. Bynoe said the department should implement a comprehensive performance review to identify at-risk officers who could be eligible for intervention.
She noted that Suffolk County and the Village of Hempstead use third-party entities to monitor police misconduct and said Nassau should have the same measures in place.
“We have also learned of allegations of misconduct as fiduciaries for the county,” Bynoe said in a phone interview with Blank Slate Media last month. “As we settle lawsuits, it has become clear to us that we need to have the most resourced and independent review process employed.”
“The Nassau County Police Reform Plan is a living document that preserves the County’s ability to enact further measures once we have a chance to see how the current reforms work,” county spokesman Michael Fricchione said. “We believe that the Attorney General’s Law Enforcement Misconduct Office is a valuable tool that improves the existing systems by providing broad jurisdiction, independence, and extra scrutiny and can help ensure the timeliness of responses in these separate jurisdictions, along with consistent policing outcomes and use of resources.”
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder praised law enforcement officials for their work and expressed confidence that they would serve the community effectively and appropriately.
In March, Ryder said the department would implement 86 of the 90 recommendations community stakeholders made along with the 23 changes the department made on its own.
“The adopted reforms add a new level of accountability that our communities and residents require,” Ryder said. “The Police Department will continue to serve our residents in the most professional manner.”
