Nassau Police Precinct Closures Questioned Amid Allegation Of Falsified Crime Stats
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - After a police commander was accused of falsifying crime reports for two Nassau County precincts, a County Legislator is questioning whether the closure was warranted.
WCBS 880's Sophia Hall On The Story
Podcast
The Sixth Precinct in Manhasset was closed and changed into a community policing center.
Now, Legislator Wayne Wink wonders if people are being properly protected.
"If the numbers are being changed to reflect less crime, if the county just looks at the hard numbers and says 'Well, you know, there's not enough crime here to justify putting an additional detective there," he told WCBS 880 reporter Sophia Hall. "There could be communities that, quite frankly, are not being properly policed."
Wink said he may ask for a hearing on the issue.
A police spokesperson said the missclassified crimes did not have an influence on the precinct being realigned.
Commander Thomas DePaola also admitted to falsifying crime reports for the Fifth Precinct.
Newsday reported that he was demoted to the rank of captain from inspector, which will mean a pay cut of about $14,000.
His base inspector's salary was $170,988 annually and his new rate will be $156,724, the department told Newsday.
Newsday reported that DePaola is accused of mishandling about 170 crime reports between January 2011 and mid-July, mostly at the Sixth but also at the Fifth.
Felony grand larcenies were routinely misclassified as misdemeanor petty larcenies and cases in which crime victims requested no arrests were omitted from crime statistics. Some thefts were wrongly classified as "lost property," the police department said.
Do you think the precinct should reopen as it was before? Sound off in the comments section below.
