Suffolk reassigns anti-graffiti coordinator

The Suffolk County executive's office Thursday announced that a new anti-graffiti coordinator will start in the police department's Third Precinct on Monday, replacing the COPE officer whose transfer was the subject of a small protest earlier in the day.

County Executive Steve Levy declined to say why Officer Nancy Quattrociocchi, assigned last spring to coordinate graffiti removal efforts in Brentwood and Central Islip, was reassigned to patrol in the same precinct last month.

Nine Brentwood residents waved signs Thursday afternoon at Levy's Hauppauge office, chanting: "All you gotta do is bring back Nancy Q!"

Raymond Mayo, recording secretary for Brentwood Association of Concerned Citizens and a protest organizer, said last night he hoped the new coordinator, Alexandra Beyrer, would be as open and available as Quattrociocchi, who accompanied volunteers when they removed gang-related graffiti.

"Nancy was always there when we needed her," he said.

The Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, the union representing officers, said Quattrociocchi was transferred because she made a comment in October at a Brentwood community meeting considered out of step with Levy's position on police staffing.

According to PBA vice president Noel DiGerolamo, Quattrociocchi advised a resident who wanted additional patrol car coverage to take the concern to police headquarters.

Suffolk Legis. Ricardo Montano (D-Brentwood), who stopped by the Hauppauge protest to show his support, said: "When people from the community called to the county executive to talk about the sector car, he was so angry, he ordered her removed."

Levy said, "In general, there's a great deal of latitude for our employees in public forums," but "no one would accept insubordination if it were to occur." He would not comment on whether Quattrociocchi had been insubordinate.

Dan Aug, a Levy spokesman, said Quattrociocchi met with her supervisors after the community meeting and acknowledged she had made inaccurate statements about patrol car coverage and the number of police officers the county planned to hire this year and next.

Quattrociocchi did not return a phone call for comment.