Upper Brookville prefers to keep police

At a lively public meeting last night, Upper Brookville leaders indicated that staying with their current police force would require a "radical restructuring" of the department in a short period of time.

More than 100 residents filled a conference room at the Planting Fields Arboretum, some speaking passionately against the village leaving the Old Brookville Police Department to contract with Nassau County or another law enforcement agency.

"One of the best things about Upper Brookville is the police department," said Patricia Miller, who has lived in the village for 60 years. "They know the roads, they know the people who live here."

That comment drew applause. But Trustee Michael Schwerin, the village police commissioner, said officials also want to remain with Old Brookville police.

He explained that significant liabilities, including officer termination pay and long-term health care, drive village concerns even beyond the immediate budget gap created by Muttontown's departure from the partnership that funds the department.

"At this time," Schwerin said, "we have no way of knowing if this reconstruction will be successful."

The debate became necessary after Muttontown voted last month to leave the seven-village partnership that funds Old Brookville police.

Muttontown objected to providing 26 percent of police revenue -- $3.1 million -- yet receiving equal say in department matters with villages that pay a fraction of that.

The Old Brookville Police Department, which formed 62 years ago, also serves Old Brookville, Brookville, Matinecock, Mill Neck and Cove Neck. Muttontown's defection prompted Old Brookville's police union to predict 13 of its 40 officers would lose their jobs.

Upper Brookville Mayor Terry Thielen has called Muttontown's move a "tipping point," and worried that her village -- set to use $1.8 million of its $3.1-million budget for police -- would now have to fill the unexpected revenue gap.

Some residents have insisted that a contract with Nassau police would cost 15 percent more than what Upper Brookville now pays to Old Brookville police, and that the service would be less personal.

"It's time to put it together and make it happen," said resident Frank Trujilo, of the negotiations that have yet to yield an agreement.

Chris Sweeney, president of Old Brookville's police union, said at the meeting that he is awaiting response to his offer to reopen the existing labor agreement to look for potential cost-saving measures.