Suffolk restores 5 cop PR jobs

Suffolk lawmakers, in an about-face, have restored nearly half of the civilian positions cut from the police department's public relations office.

Acting on an emergency resolution from County Executive Steve Bellone, the legislature on Tuesday approved saving five of the 11 public information officers (or "PIOs") eliminated in its 2012 budget.

New police leaders argued that losing all but two members of their civilian PIO staff -- which handles media requests and Crime Stoppers tips -- would limit the department's ability to distribute news on nights and weekends, and perhaps force the use of higher-paid sworn officers.

"We knew we had to fix that," said Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook). "It was a mistake."

Saving the four public relations specialists and one public relations assistant, all of whom were to be laid off Feb. 27, ensures the PIO unit is only cut in half (from 14 to 7). Lawmakers' initial cuts would have saved the county about $300,000.

Bellone's staff found $85,000 to fund the five restored positions by taking the same amount from police overtime and night differential accounts.

Legis. John Kennedy (R-Nesconset) led the push last November to eliminate most of the civilian public relations jobs, saying he believed that more than a dozen of them were "beyond what would have been reasonable."

But he acknowledged Wednesday that keeping sworn officers on the street and allowing civilians to continue handling most media requests and Crime Stoppers tips made sense.

"Am I happy with the number they restored? Not really. I think it could have been less," Kennedy said. "But they talked about the Crime Stoppers unit, and I think that's been an effective tool."

Former County Executive Steve Levy had long argued a similar point, saying he brought in the civilian PIO staff mainly to keep more higher-paid police officers out on patrol.