New Suffolk County deputy police commissioner says focus is high-tech intelligence

Suffolk County’s new deputy police commissioner, a 39-year NYPD veteran and an expert in counterterrorism and intelligence, said his top priorities will be expanding the use of drones, video surveillance and other technologies, along with increasing social media intelligence gathering.

Thomas Galati, the former chief of the NYPD Intelligence bureau, said he will protect Suffolk residents by calling on relationships forged over his nearly four-decade career in policing to work with the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies.

"Suffolk County is already a leader in public safety, but there is always more we can do and I am honored to be a part of it," Galati said after Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina and County Executive Edward P. Romaine introduced him Thursday at a news conference in Yaphank. Galati joined the department on Sept., 22.

Galati said his responsibilities at the NYPD included leading intelligence gathering, criminal investigations and terror investigations. He worked with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and liaisoned with domestic and international agencies. He also managed security at large events, including the U.N. General Assembly.

Catalina, also an NYPD veteran, said he’s known Galati for 20 years and worked with him in gang and intelligence units, as well as in other capacities.

"Tom is a world-renowned expert in counterterrorism and intelligence, and he brings all of that, in addition to 39 years with the New York City Police Department," Catalina said.

The officials said Suffolk does not currently have any credible threats — but as events in other parts of the world have shown, that is subject to change.

"This is a business where if you don’t prepare, you are going to get caught short, and counterterrorism is something we do worry about," Romaine said.

Drones, surveillance cameras and other technology will be important tools for Suffolk police to protect schools, workplaces, houses of worship and large public events, Galati said. Suffolk police announced an initiative earlier this month to use drones as first responders, which they said will provide authorities with immediate information from crime scenes, traffic collisions and missing person searches.

Officials said the drone program is already operative in the department’s Second Precinct, and that each of Suffolk’s seven precincts will have at least one drone next year.

Galati also hopes to boost intelligence gathering on social media and other open sources of information to identify threats before they potentially turn deadly. Galati said the primary threat of terrorism in 2025 comes from "lone wolves, individuals who are radicalized."

"The challenge is stopping these threats before they happen, and that is where we are going to focus, that’s where our focus needs to be," Galati said.

It is difficult to identify radicalized people, he added, likening the process to searching for a "needle in the haystack."

Galati said it is important to work with schools and community organizations to assist troubled people who may have expressed a desire for violence.

"Sometimes disruptions (of violence) do happen," he said. "Disruptions happen more than you think."