Legislature eyes top cop's job over houseboat deaths

After 2 1/2 hours of grilling Police Commissioner Richard Dormer about the March deaths of three people on a Huntington houseboat, Suffolk legislators Thursday agreed to allow a vote on whether to strip him of his job.

The full legislature will vote Tuesday on whether to fire Dormer, which County Executive Steve Levy contends legislators have no legal authority to do.

Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor), who questioned Dormer for nearly an hour, said that he's going to try to round up the 10 votes needed to pass a fire-Dormer bill. Forcing Levy to install a new commissioner, who would have to be approved by the legislature, Cooper said, would give legislators more authority over the department.

"We've lived with Dormer, we know what questions to ask" of a future commissioner, he said. "We'd make it much more likely that a future police commissioner would stand up to the county executive."

Levy reiterated his belief that legislators have no legal authority to remove a county commissioner and accused them of being in cahoots with the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association, which represents rank-and-file officers.

"The Legislature's fixation on the police commissioner has reached absurd levels, and is fueled by PBA rhetoric and political considerations," Levy said in a statement.

Cooper's bill stalled in committee in recent weeks but gained steam after the disclosure that three people died of carbon monoxide poisoning on a Huntington houseboat in March while an unmanned police boat sat nearby.

Dormer Thursday told lawmakers that officers who rowed to the houseboat in a dinghy performed admirably and that people who criticize the department have ulterior motives.

"I would urge this committee and the people of Suffolk County to carefully assess the motives of those who would fault our officers' response and the department's response to this tragedy," he said.

"If the boat had been staffed and even close by, the outcome would have been the same," he said.

Legislators did not accept his explanation.

"I'm concerned that police staffing decisions are made not with public safety at the forefront but with budget reasons at the forefront," Cooper said. Dormer said even if the Huntington police boat had been active, it might have been out on patrol and could have taken an hour to reach the houseboat.

The committee's chairman, Legis. Jack Eddington (I-Medford), called that unacceptable.

"If somebody falls off the boat, we're going to allow an hour or more response time?" he said. "Maybe we need another boat, then."