Sea Cliff studying dropping Nassau police

A study into whether Sea Cliff Village should drop Nassau County police in favor of protection by neighbor Glen Cove will take into account the recent vote to downsize Nassau police precincts, Sea Cliff Mayor Bruce Kennedy said.

“It seems like every time we get a good handle on what’s going on, the county changes what they’re going to do,” Kennedy said at Monday’s board of trustees meeting.

He was responding to a resident’s request that the village consider Old Brookville police, which serves six North Shore villages, as an additional alternative to Nassau.

The resident, Jerry Romano, also cited Laurel Hollow’s decision last month to drop Nassau and contract with Oyster Bay Cove police.

Sea Cliff last fall commissioned a feasibility study into whether contracting for  Glen Cove police would save the village money without forcing it to sacrifice protection. The results -- and a decision on future police contracts -- might not come for several more months, Kennedy has said.

Sea Cliff is paying $2.2 million in annual Nassau police costs, Kennedy said Monday.

He said he’s keeping future costs in mind. “My biggest concern is sustainability,” he said. “We don’t want to -- 10 years down the line -- be paying more than we’d be paying Nassau County.”

Added trustee Carol Vogt: “We’re trying to get the best deal possible.”

Currently, there are, statistically speaking, 0.75 cops in Sea Cliff at all times, Kennedy said. “I think that we should have more protection than we do,” he said. “Nassau County says we’re over-policed based on our crime rates.”