Nassau's acting top cop faces budget issues

Thomas C. Krumpter, the deputy police chief who for now replaces the retiring Nassau police commissioner, has years of experience on both sides of Mineola's Fifteenth Street.

On the south side, at county police headquarters, the 44-year-old has been a cop, commanding officer and most recently top aide to the commissioner, Lawrence W. Mulvey.

On the north side, at the county's executive and legislative building, Krumpter for years served as the face of the police department, testifying before legislators and meeting with the county executive.

Krumpter will need to wear both hats, taking the reins as acting commissioner in an era when a state oversight board has seized control of county finances of which policing makes up 27 percent - the largest share - of the county's $2.6-billion budget.

In announcing Thursday he would leave April 1, Mulvey said more personnel cuts would be needed for the 2012 budget and those cuts should be made by a new commissioner.

Krumpter has spent roughly the second half of his career in administrative positions in the department. Through a spokesman, he declined to speak for this article.

Krumpter joined the department in 1992 and assignments have included stints in the Fifth Precinct in Elmont and the Sixth in Manhasset. He'll have a say in the committee that will search for the next commissioner.

Deputy Insp. Kenneth Lack, who succeeded Krumpter as head of the department's personnel and accounting bureau in 2009, noted many of the department's current and recently retired top brass - current chief of support Lorraine A. Hannon and retired chiefs of department Anthony Rocco and Karen O'Callaghan, in addition to Mulvey - have commanded the bureau.

"It's a tremendous resource for any police administrator to have come through the personnel and accounting bureau," Lack said. "It provides an extra level of training that any commissioner must have during these challenging economic times."

County Executive Edward Mangano no doubt worked with Krumpter when Mangano was a legislator from Bethpage and Krumpter was police liaison to the legislature.

Krumpter frequently testified before the body on matters such as spending, the regulation of burglar alarms, and the department's response to the 2008 trampling death of a Walmart worker on Black Friday.

James Carver, who heads Nassau's largest police union, said: "He has never lost his touch for the cop that works in the patrol car. . . . What he's going to have to learn to be successful is how to say 'no' to the county executive when the county executive orders cuts to the police department that affect public safety."

In a statement, a Mangano spokeswoman said "public safety is a top priority" and noted a 10.87 percent drop in crime in 2010 compared with 2009, even though 125 nonpatrol positions were phased out by the end of 2010.