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The date has passed to apply for
the Nassau County Voluntary Retirement Incentive
Program. One
hundred and thirteen members of the Nassau County Police
Department have signed up and will be leaving in the
fall. Those
leaving include the Chief of Department, the First
Deputy Commissioner, the Chief of Patrol, forty-one SOA
members, twenty-four DAI members and forty-five PBA
members. I
wish all of them well.
Each person who is leaving had to make a decision
based on his or her own unique set of circumstances.
All those who considered leaving but decided to
stay, also made that same type of decision.
I wish all of them well also.
Among those leaving are SOA Second Vice President
Jim Ward, SOA Recording Secretary Tony Gambino, First
Precinct Trustee Bob Randlov, Third Precinct Trustee Tom
Bregenzer, Headquarters Three Trustee Sam Giambrone,
Detective Annex Trustee John Allen, and Highway Patrol
Trustee Kevin Caslin.
While all of them will be missed, their
replacements should provide new and interesting ideas.
The Superior Officers Association, as always,
will survive.
The question now becomes, how will
the Department survive with the loss of one hundred and
thirteen experienced members?
The three police unions and the remaining members
of the police administration must work together with the
Nassau County Administration to insure that the service
we provide to the public does not suffer.
Those leaving will be gone by November 1, 2010.
While all those leaving will not be replaced at
once, certainly they should be replaced as soon as
possible. If
there is a need to restructure the Department in any
way, the planning should begin now.
I for one do not see the need to change much, if
anything at all. However,
we should not wait to decide.
Certainly, the big issue for labor
continues to be the economy.
Unfortunately, the Federal, State and County
governments are all affected.
I mentioned this in the last issue of the Gold
Shield. As I
stated, the County must succeed for us to maintain the
level of benefits we are entitled to even though these
benefits are locked in until the end of 2015.
Now that one hundred and thirteen members of the
Department are retiring, as union leaders, we are
reminded of the importance of ensuring that the pension
system is adequately funded.
Due to our involvement with the National
Association of Police Organizations, I have been made
aware of various municipalities throughout the Country
that are unable to meet their pension obligations.
There are too many retired police officers in
this country who are receiving IOUs instead of pension
checks. Police
unions cannot under estimate the amount of effort needed
in preventing this from happening in New York.
There have been many articles in local newspapers
on this topic. New
York State has one of the most secure pension systems in
the country. We
must not allow a faltering economy to weaken it.
While things sometimes look bleak,
I believe, as always, we will prevail.
After all, we are the “good guys”.
Take the time to enjoy the rest of the summer.
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