Editorial: Major issue for Suffolk's future
An unidentified female was seriously injured in an accident Thursday on South Broadway and West Hoffman Avenue in Lindenhurst. (Sept. 15, 2011) Credit: Paul Mazza
The preliminary report by the Department of Justice on how Suffolk police handle hate crimes is more than a report card. It's an urgent business item for a new county executive and police commissioner.
One possible outcome is a court-approved consent decree that would curtail the county's ability to decide its own law-enforcement future. Better for Suffolk to clean up its own act than for a federal judge to order it.
The police have made some progress since the November 2008 killing of Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue by a hate-filled group of teens. But the 28-page letter from the Justice Department, two years after it started looking into Suffolk, makes clear that there's a lot to be done.
Either Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone or County Treasurer Angie Carpenter will get to pick a new police commissioner. But neither one should wait until after the election to start thinking seriously about this document.
It lays out in great detail its findings on how police respond to hate-crime reports, deal with the Latino community, and investigate police misconduct. The new county executive needs to know it cold, take it to heart and make it central in interviewing commissioner finalists.
Meanwhile, the county legislature's Hate Crimes Task Force, which began work at about the same time the Justice Department did, must get its final report done. Washington has been heard from on policing in Suffolk. It's about time Hauppauge weighed in, too. hN
