Questions for Thomas Krumpter

The timing of the potential elevation of Nassau County Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter to the permanent position is as mysterious as the fact that he's been "acting" for two years. His vetting for the full title should be clearer.

When previous Commissioner Thomas Dale was forced to resign due to allegations that he used the department in an attempt to sabotage a political opponent of his boss, County Executive Edward Mangano, a nationwide search for a replacement was promised. But Mangano's search actually began and ended in Mineola, with Krumpter. Mangano put him in charge but refused to give him the permanent title, saying people in acting roles "try harder."

Krumpter has likely been conflicted about the permanent title, which will look better on his resume than "acting," but comes with a pay cut from $237,265 a year under his civil service title of first deputy commissioner to $175,000, according to county officials. Mangano budgeted for the lower salary.

Krumpter is known as a numbers guy, an efficient administrator with a firm grasp of budgeting who came up with the numbers to justify lifting NIFA's freeze on police wages.

But it turned out that the revenue he and Mangano promised to make that case, from school-zone cameras to increased sales tax and mortgage recording tax collections, never materialized. And his move to combine several county police precincts to save money drew opposition from some politicians and residents. But since Krumpter took over, major crime is down 6.8 percent, to historic lows, in a county already quite safe.

The county legislature is the final authority on his nomination. But before it makes a decision, Krumpter should be required to go on record about his plans for the force.

Lawmakers should ask about Krumpter's plans for:

fighting the sale of heroin and the related crime it brings about;

re-establishing POP cops to empower neighborhood officers to become trusted experts in individual communities;

working closely with federal and state task forces to heighten the effectiveness of Nassau policing efforts;

cooperating with village police departments to prevent serious crime in problem areas;

negotiating with police unions to assign more personnel to high-needs areas and divisions without increasing overtime costs;

pursuing internal investigations and prosecution of cops who may have broken the law, such as in the shooting of a cabdriver in Huntington by an off-duty officer, Anthony DiLeonardo. The officer was eventually fired but never charged, and a cover-up by both the Nassau and Suffolk departments has never been fully investigated;

responding when asked to politicize the department, as happened in the arrest of Randy White, which led to Dale's resignation in 2013.

Legislators need to ask Krumpter these questions and residents deserve to hear the answers before he's named commissioner.