In the Aug. 9 edition of the Syosset Jericho Tribune, a press release from the Nassau County Legislature was published, stating that the legislators in the Public Works, Finance and Rules committees voted unanimously to approve emergency amendments to the 2023-2026 capital budget and authorize a total of $33.575 million in bonding for the Second Precinct, which was badly damaged by fire in late November 2022. Tribune intern, Ethan Brown, spoke with Legislator Arnold Drucker and a member of the Nassau County Police Department Second Precinct to gather more information on the matter.
Nassau County Police’s Second Precinct, located in Woodbury, will receive $33.575 million to rebuild their department.
On July 17, the Public Works, Finance and Rules committees made up of legislators all voted in favor of the funding. Then, in a full county legislator meeting on Aug. 7, the project was approved unanimously.
Legislator Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview), whose district covers the Second Precinct said, “It’s an emergency to have this structure rebuilt so that our dedicated police officers have a place in which they could serve the residents of this area.”
Finances to construct the police building will be bonded to the county budget, meaning that the county is authorized to borrow that money and pay it off over the time period of 2023-2026.
This change in the budget is also an emergency amendment, which allowed the legislators to expedite the process. Besides just legal reasons, the funds for the Second Precinct is an emergency because the building was badly damaged. It is believed that a fire started in the kitchen, then spread to the adjacent offices. Ever since, a temporary trailer was set up outside.
“They do not have all the resources in a makeshift trailer.” said Legislator Drucker “It used to house an entire precinct of police officers and personnel. And that’s going to be rebuilt with all of the tools and resources that our police department, our first responders, need to protect us and serve us,”
Police officers are, as a whole, thrilled for the repair of their Second Precinct. According to Drucker the project is intended to be “completed by the end of the year”. Police officers can’t wait for that day.
One desk officer, who works in the Second Precinct, said, “We’re super excited for a new building. We will have better working conditions than working in a trailer. It will be nice to have more room. It gets loud here [in the trailer] during weekdays.”
Even with their enthusiasm, police officers would like more frequent and clearer communication from officials in the local government. They are left in the dark about the status of the rebuilding.
“We actually have no idea what the plans actually are,” said a Second Precinct police officer, “We didn’t get a timeline of when this is happening. We don’t know how long this will take, but a new building is exciting for sure.”
Nonetheless, all are eager for the precinct to be built; the project continuously has received bipartisan support. Drucker said, “I’m very thrilled that this was done in a bipartisan manner displaying the fact that we as legislators- and me being a legislator for this particular community- are united and seeing that this necessary construction takes place as quickly as possible.”
Now that the rebuilding project is approved, construction by LiRo Engineering is set to start soon. Ideally, a new building will be completed by the end of the year.
