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Legislation proposed to name county’s police headquarters for first Black police commissioner

Robert Pelaez
Legislation was proposed to change the name of the county's police headquarters in honor of the first Black police commissioner in county history, William Willet. (Photo courtesy of the county executive's office)

Nassau legislators introduced a bill on Thursday that would name the county’s Police Department headquarters in Garden City after Nassau’s first Black police commissioner, William J. Willett.

“I had the opportunity to work with Commissioner Willett in my early days with the Legislature,” Nassau County Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said. “Commissioner Willett was highly respected among his peers and was one of the best police commissioners Nassau County has ever had. His professionalism and integrity made this decision to name the police headquarters after him easy. Now, he will live on in the history books and with his name on the building that houses the police force he helped shape.” 

Willett was born on May 4, 1931, in Glen Cove. He married his wife, Floretta, in 1957, and the two started a family in Westbury. Willett died on April 12, 2003, from lung cancer. He was 71 years old.

He joined the Navy and served for years during the Korean Conflict.  According to county officials, Willett expressed interest in joining the Nassau County Police Department once he returned home, ultimately joining the force in 1953.

He began as a beat cop patrolling the Garden City Park area at a time when there were 15 Black police officers in the entire county.  Willett worked his way up the chain of command, spending more than two decades working in the Police Department’s community relations bureau.

Willett became the county’s deputy chief of patrol in 1981 and was named first deputy commissioner in 1994, making him the first African-American to achieve those milestones in Nassau County.

In 2000, then-County Executive Tom Gulotta appointed Willett as county police commissioner.  Two years later, after 48 years serving Nassau County citizens, he retired from the position.

The proposed legislation was announced in front of the county’s police headquarters and, if passed, would make the building the first one in Nassau County to be named after an African-American.

County officials said a renaming ceremony has been planned with the entire Willett family after the measure passes the Legislature.

Nassau County Legislator Joshua Lafazan (I-Syosset) filed a proposal to rename a county-owned building at 240 Old Country Road in honor of former U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm.  The proposal was the first one in the county’s 121-year existence to name a county-owned building in honor of a Black historical leader.

“We are aware that the Majority has followed the lead of Legislator Lafazan and the Minority Caucus and has proposed renaming NCPD headquarters for former Commissioner William J. Willett, a committed and decorated leader with a distinguished record of public service who made history by becoming the first Black person to serve as Nassau County Police Commissioner,” said William Biamonte, the Nassau minority caucus chief of staff.

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