ChrisF202

Heres the deal. Here on Long Island we get almost nothing in return for practically floating the rest of New York State. The State is supposed to pay the county governments of Nassau and Suffolk Counties to patrol the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway with a special highway patrol bureau within the 2 county police departments. The state has been slacking off on giving the $$$ so the county executive decides to ax the highway patrol bureau (although their is a police commissioner and a chief of department overseeing the police department, the county executive is the real head honcho) and have New York State Police patrol the expressway.

The problem: out of 4,600 sworn troopers in the New York State Police; less then 100 are assigned to Long Island and they cant even properly cover the state roads that they currently cover much less take on more turf. Long Island is seen as a "punishment post" within the State Police due to the high cost of living and the lack of specialized opportunities (they only handle traffic enforcement down here as opposed to the full range of police work upstate).


Is it right for the county executive to ax the county police patrols to save money in exchange for a threat to public safety? Whats everyone else's take?

Some links:

Suozzi, Levy to call for cuts to highway patrols -- Newsday.com
Can Suozzi, Levy pull cops from state roads? -- Newsday.com
Who's watching? -- Newsday.com
Potential for patrol shortage on LIE, Sunrise -- Newsday.com