Suffolk cops stress intelligence gathering

Suffolk police brass Thursday announced a series of broad changes to the department they recently took over, highlighting placement of intelligence officers in precincts and the creation of a bureau to track community complaints.

In a presentation to the county legislature's Public Safety Committee, Chief of Department James Burke also promised to give more responsibility to patrol and detective commanders, assign liaisons to civic and minority groups, and use tools including wiretaps against street gangs.

The principle tying everything together is a sharpened focus on intelligence gathering, which Burke called "the central nervous system of this police department."

"This is now a part of every cop and detective's life," he said. "Everybody will know what's happening."

New "field intelligence officers" soon will be assigned to each of the seven precincts, providing commanders with real-time data to identify crime trends and patterns. They will also oversee a new program to debrief all of those arrested for information about other crimes that are occurring within the precinct.

For instance, if there were a spate of GPS thefts from vehicles, the officers might ask suspects if they were aware of people trying to sell the devices.

"Because we're on top of trends and patterns, we can ask tailored questions," Burke said. "The best way to get a criminal is having another criminal tell you who . . . [they] are."

Over the past month, Burke, Acting Commissioner Edward Webber and County Executive Steve Bellone have announced several major changes to the force. They include the return of anti-gang officers to individual precincts, the launch of a pharmacy safety initiative and a streamlined public information unit.

Yesterday's presentation wrapped it all together.

Lawmakers were generally complimentary, referring frequently to difficulties in getting information under previous police leaders.

"There will be rocky times," said Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook). "But I just ask, don't disappear on us."

Burke promised cooperation with lawmakers and unions.

"It's clear now that you're going to have police professionals running the department without political interference," said Noel DiGerolamo, second vice president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association. "It's an excellent start."

Former County Executive Steve Levy said often that criticism of his police brass was driven by union objections to his cost-saving measures, including the replacement of police officers on the Long Island Expressway with sheriff's deputies.

Legis. Kate Browning (WF-Shirley), the Public Safety Committee chairwoman, opened yesterday's meeting by expressing the hope that "divisions between the sheriff and police departments [will] be resolved."

Burke didn't address the issue, other than to say his department's focus on intelligence would include sharing information with all area law enforcement agencies.

But he stressed that when new personnel assignments are made, they will be based solely on performance.

"Politics will not play a role in advancement in the police department," he said.

SUFFOLK POLICE CHANGES

Intelligence: Intelligence officers will be assigned to each precinct to gather data about crime trends. They also will debrief all arrested suspects for information on other crime patterns.

Quality of life: A new office will create a central database for all nonemergency, quality-of-life complaints.

Accurate crime data: Supervisors will be held accountable for the accuracy of crime data, and incident reports will be subject to random checks.

Information sharing: Narcotics investigators will share information with other divisions to help spur arrests in other types of crimes.

Source: Suffolk County police