Official: Nassau police lose 162 officers to county's voluntary buyout program

The Nassau County Police Department has lost 162 veteran officers as part of a buyout program for county employees, an official told Newsday Tuesday.

The majority of departures, designed as a cost-cutting measure, came from the rank-and-file. Seventy-six officers, 38 detectives and 48 members of the Superior Officers Association, the union representing sergeants and ranks above, took the buyout, according to figures provided by Chris Boyle, spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

"Currently, there are 100 cadets in our police academy and we have planned and budgeted for an additional 150 cadets for later this year. We will operate at levels higher than previous administrations in the last 20 years," Blakeman said in a statement Tuesday.

A total of 610 county employees took the buyout, according to Boyle, including 397 members of the Civil Service Employees Association and 48 members of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association.

Among those who retired was First Deputy Commissioner Kevin Smith, a 42-year veteran of the department. Smith served stints as the commanding officer of the public information office, chief of detectives and chief of department before his role in the commissioner’s office, according to department social media posts. Chief of Patrol Joseph Barbieri also retired.

Other high-ranking departures included Chief Thomas Corona, Chief Joseph Guerra, Chief William Leahy and Det. Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick, the commanding officer of the department's Homicide Squad. They have a collective 162 years of experience.

Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, in an earlier interview, had said he anticipated that close to 200 officers would retire.

He was not available for an interview Tuesday.

Blakeman proposed the buyout program to try and save about $27 million in the 2026-27 budget and $30 million annually over the following three years. The voluntary incentive program, offered through March 5, provided lump-sum payments equaling $2,000 for each year of service to county employees with more than 10 consecutive years of full-time employment.

The incentive was approved by both the Nassau County Legislature and the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, an oversight body. 

Boyle could not immediately provide an estimate on the savings to the department — one of the largest in the country — as a result of the 162 departures. The department's budget for this year is about $631 million.

Nassau Police Benevolent Association President Tommy Shevlin, who heads the department's largest labor union, said earlier that he's "confident that staffing levels will be responsibly maintained to ensure the continued protection of our communities and the safety of our police officers."

Nassau County has been named as one of the safest large suburban counties in the country. 
  
  Newsday’s Candice Ferrette contributed to this report.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.