Nassau Democrats try to out-Republican Republicans

                                                                                  

Kevan Abrahams

Usually its Republicans who want more police.

But not this time.

Maybe Nassau legislative Democrats are trying to counter local police union endorsements of most Republican candidates in next month's election, particularly down-the-line endorsement of GOP State Senate candidates.

Or maybe Democratic legislators want to put the police-supporting Republican majority along with back-the-blue Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman on the spot.

Because the seven Democrats on the 19-member Nassau County legislature have proposed amending Blakeman's proposed $3.3 billion budget to add 110 police officers to the county force.

Yes, all seven Democrats support the addition of 110 more officers to a police force of about 2,500, which is among the largest in the country. 

They include the Democratic delegation's three black members, who voted last year against a police reform plan and new contracts for the police: Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport); Legis. Siela Bynoe (D-Westbury) and Legis. Carrie Solages (D-Lawrence.).

Minority and progressive groups protested all but those three Democrats last year:

                                                                         

But now all seven want more police,  though interestingly, the only one actually named in the Democrat press release and budget amendments is Abrahams. The rest are lumped together as the "Democratic minority" or "minority caucus."

Although sponsoring legislators are named on legislative bills, it is not uncommon for the majority or minority to be referred as such on budget amendments, a Democratic spokesman said, providing examples of past budget amendments.

Abrahams said in the news release that Democrats want "$5,582,350 in additional funding to pay for 110 new Nassau County Police Department officers - 25 of whom would be assigned to a new countywide Hate Crimes division.

"Filed on Friday, Oct. 14, the Minority Caucus budget amendments would additionally provide
$700,000 toward restoring recidivism prevention resource programs that were recently canceled
by the District Attorney’s office, " he added.

The $6.282 million would be taken from contingency and funded but vacant positions.

According to the county's budget office, Nassau had a police force of 2,497 members at the end of August.

Blakeman's budget proposal for 2023 includes "a total 2,542 sworn officers for the Police Department who are primarily represented by the three police unions (1,816 PBA, 360 DAI and 366 SOA) including 36 new police officers to combat criminal justice reform."

Oh. Criminal justice reform. Republican Blakeman's wants to add 36 officers  to combat "criminal justice reform."

Criminal justice reforms are generally referred to simply as bail reform, adopted by the Albany Democratic majority and effective Jan. 2020. The reforms include eliminating bail for all but the most violent crimes. 

Though Albany Democrats deny a connection, Republicans say bail reform is the reason why crime has surged across the state. 

Nassau police commissioner Pat Ryder said earlier this month that major crimes in Nassau are up nearly 53 percent this year compared to last year. 

Voter anger over bail reform is considered the main reason why Republicans defeated Democrats across Long Island last November. It is a central issue for Republican state senate candidates this year.

Nassau's Republican state senate candidates held a news conference earlier this month promising to repeal cashless bail if elected in November. Members of the Police Benevolent Association, the Detectives Union, the Superior Officers union and the Corrections officers union joined with Republicans outside the East Meadow jail to demand an end to cashless bail.

Too bad that traffic noise drowned out most of what the candidates were saying in the live stream.

Former State Sen. Jack Martins at lectern, flanked by Legis. Steve Rhoads and Patricia
Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick at news conference

 Now rather than defunding police, Democrats want to fund police.

“It is the belief of the Minority Caucus that this confluence of circumstances provides
us with the opportunity to invest additional resources in law enforcement for the purpose of
enhancing community policing initiatives, combating hate crimes, and re-establishing crucial
recidivism prevention resource programs for individuals who are seeking to better themselves
and turn their lives around,” Abrahams said.

Generally, the party that holds the majority on the county legislature votes down budget amendments proposed by the minority. But will Republicans vote against more police officers?

And now that all legislators appear to back the police, wonder if they will attend the first-ever PBA cigar dinner tonight?