Nassau precinct cuts turn political

The argument over police precinct closures in Nassau County doesn't have much to do with public safety, at least not for the professionals involved. It's about money and power and politics.

Admittedly, it doesn't feel that way to the incensed residents who fear the conversion of four precinct houses to "community policing centers" will leave their neighborhoods vulnerable. But they aren't the power players in this game. That point was made clear Monday when the chairman of the Nassau County Legislature's Public Safety Committee, Dennis Dunne (R-Levittown), forced residents at a meeting on the closures to wait three hours before they could speak. This isn't a new tactic. Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) tried the same thing in May to forestall public comment on the GOP's hijacking of the legislative redistricting process, but at that hearing the angry crowd reacted so vehemently, he was forced to back down.

County Executive Edward Mangano's administration and Republican legislators are trying desperately to cut what is spent on police, seeking ways that don't violate the county's police contracts. The police unions will fight any attempt to cut spending on law enforcement. And on this issue they've managed to find common ground with Democratic legislators, who are laying the groundwork to take back the majority and deny Mangano a second term.

Whether Mangano's plan will save $20 million per year, as he claims, or $12 million this year and $16 million next year, as his opponents claim -- or a bit more or less -- can't be known until it's clear which 108 people are leaving the force, how much money is needed for buyouts, and how much overtime can be saved by escaping staffing agreements tied to the boundaries of the eight current precincts.

Mangano's handling of the situation has been ham-handed. Talk of cutting precincts was sure to be met with community protest. The fact that the public has had little input and the closure plan is moving so quickly only exacerbated that natural reaction.

Mangano and his staffers amplified the problem by changing their explanations of what the "community policing centers" will encompass. How many precincts will be closed or converted, whether the First Precinct in Baldwin will be rebuilt and at what cost, and whether functions beyond reporting crimes and receiving reports will still be handled at former precincts: All these aspects and more have at different times been presented in different ways.

Because of these things, what would have been a good issue for the Democrats has been amplified into a great one: Republicans can be portrayed as decimating public safety, and so far they haven't even been competent and consistent in trying to accomplish it.

But the bottom line is that the county is broke, and must spend less, particularly on policing. A plan accomplishing that, without cutting the number of cops on the street, is a good deal for residents.

Mangano should have been ready with much better answers to the questions he could have seen coming, but the status quo of how policing is done in Nassau County provides no answers at all.