Dormer, wooed by Dowling, will finish term

Suffolk County police Commissioner Richard Dormer, now in talks for an academic position, pledged Wednesday to stay in the top cop job until the end of the year.

"I will finish my term with the current administration," Dormer said in a statement.

Dormer met earlier this month with Dowling College administrators to discuss his law enforcement background and the possibility of joining the school as a professor or administrator, according to Dowling spokeswoman Heather Shivokevich.

The campus meeting on April 12 was "exploratory" and part of a still-evolving plan to expand the Oakdale school's professional development curriculum, she said.

"It was very explicit that this would be for after his term, upon completion of his term," Shivokevich said. "There is no specific position or offer."

Dowling does not currently offer a criminal justice curriculum.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said Wednesday that he has no plan to remove Dormer and Dormer has not been asked to resign.

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"Rich Dormer is the best police commissioner Suffolk County has had," Levy said, citing a drop in overall crime numbers during their mutual tenure.

Levy called "ludicrous" a New York Post report that said Dormer was being pushed out over displeasure with the handling of the Gilgo Beach serial killing case.

Levy spokesman Dan Aug said Dormer informed Levy of the Dowling meeting in a phone call Tuesday and indicated the meeting was initiated by the college.

"The commissioner has not indicated there is anything else on the horizon as far as other possible positions," Aug said.

Dormer has taught criminal justice classes as an adjunct professor at Suffolk County Community College since the spring of 2000. An SCCC spokeswoman said the school has had no conversations with Dormer regarding a future full-time position. He did not respond to questions about other job discussions.

Dormer, 71, makes $154,154 a year. He joined the department in 1962 and retired in 1992. Dormer worked as security chief for Sports Plus for about seven years before then-County Executive-elect Levy said he would name Dormer commissioner in December 2003.

With Kery Murakami