The Muttontown and Upper Brookville Police Departments will receive a $960,000 state grant for combining their departments in 2022.
“It is, I understand, the largest award ever paid out under the shared service program, which I think was started in 2017, in Nassau County,” said Upper Brookville Mayor Elliot Conway.
The Muttontown and Upper Brookville police departments combined forces two years ago. The state said the two villages saved $1.6 million in the program’s first year.
The departments combined under the New York State County-Wide Shared Services Initiative, which “provides a one-time state match of county and local government taxpayer savings achieved in the first year of implementation of new shared services projects,” according to the Department of State website.
“Public safety is our largest single expense,” Conway said. “And that’s probably true for every municipality in New York State.”
Muttontown Mayor James Liguori said the police have “provided better service” since the villages combined forced.
“This is a great thing,” Liguori said. He said the combined department is a “win for everyone.”
Liguori said the department has saved money that can be used for future police service.
Conway said the partnership between the two villages made sense because Upper Brookville has traditionally had a close relationship with Muttontown.
“We share a lot of the same roads,” Conway said. “We’re contiguous. For the police to patrol us and Muttontown, it wasn’t a big stretch.”
Conway and Liguori said service has improved in the villages since the police forces have partnered.
“Response times in the new department are much faster,” Conway said.
Conway said finding cell service can be difficult in Upper Brookville, especially during poor weather.
“Our residents are pretty stranded if they can’t get a cell signal,” he said.
“With the new system, our calls go straight to Nassau County, and they’re dispatched immediately,” Conway said. “So response times are much faster.”
The Muttontown and Upper Brookville Police Chief Eric Irizarry said there has also been an increase in police presence.
There are “always three officers on the road,” said Irizarry. At times, he said up to four officers are on the road.
This is “definitely [an] increased amount of officers on the street,” Irizarry said.
“There are probably twice the number of cars on the road now,” said Conway. “For probably the same budget amount.”
“We’ve got better protection for everyone for roughly the same price,” Conway said.
Conway said residents feel safer with increased police presence. He said crime has decreased since the partnership.
“We’ve seen a dramatic reduction in crime,” said Conway.
Conway said crime reduction can be attributed to the new license plate readers installed in the area.
The Muttontown and Upper Brookville departments partnered with Brookville, Old Brookville, Oyster Bay Cove, and Laurel Hallow to install 41 license plate readers to detect stolen or wanted vehicles entering the area.
“We think the criminals know that we have, what we call, a ‘ring of steel’ around the villages. And they stay out,” Conway said.
Irizarry said staff morale has increased since the partnership as well. He said the department grew from 12 to 16 officers.
He said that officers can bring their experience together to provide the best service possible.
The department aims to improve facilities and day-to-day operations with the grant money.
“We have ongoing retirement expenses associated with the retired officers,” Conway said. “Most of that will go to cover those expenses.”
Conway said the money will be used for village facilities.
“The money is unrestricted,” he said. “We are renovating the new village hall, where we will have our village offices and a police sub-station for the Muttontown-Upper Brookville Police Department. And some of the money will go to that also.”
Irizarry said he would like to use the grant money for “general, everyday stuff,” such as upgrades to the police fleet, officer training programs and new equipment.
Nassau County Deputy Minority Leader Arnold Drucker said in a press release that the combined department is “a model for how we can simultaneously enhance public safety and achieve savings to reduce property taxes.”
