Democratic lawmakers together with Legislator Seth Koslow are suing Nassau County Govt Bruce Blakeman over his plan to create a non-public militia of armed residents.
Nicole Formisano
Democratic Nassau County legislators are becoming a member of collectively to sue Republican Nassau County Govt Bruce Blakeman over his plan to deputize residents as members of the county sheriff’s division in a controversial transfer that critics name a non-public militia.
The plaintiffs — Minority Chief Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) and legislators Debra Mulé, Scott Davis (D-Rockville Centre), Carrié Solages (D-Elmont), Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview), and Seth Koslow (D-Merrick) — introduced the lawsuit outdoors the Nassau County Supreme Courtroom on Feb. 5.
“We have the Nassau County Police Department, which is one of the — if not the — best-trained police departments in the country,” Koslow mentioned. “And yet, Bruce Blakeman thinks we need a militia that answers to him and him only.”
Blakeman’s plan would deputize gun-owning property house owners in Nassau to develop into provisional particular deputy sheriffs who would help police in instances of emergency. The armed residents could be deployed at Blakeman’s discretion. Blakeman has mentioned he would use them to regulate protests and cited Hurricane Sandy as an emergency state of affairs the place they might have been used.
Blakeman was fast to shoot again on the legislators concerned within the swimsuit.
“Debra Mulé and Scott Davis are a disgrace for bringing this frivolous action and defaming the volunteers, many of whom are retired military and law enforcement, who have agreed to pitch in in the event of an emergency,” Blakeman mentioned in an announcement to the Press. “The antisemitic statements, denigrating these good citizens by labeling them as Nazi brownshirts, disqualify them for public service.”
In the course of the announcement of the lawsuit, which additionally names Nassau County Sheriff Anhony LoRocco and the county itself as a defendant, DeRiggi-Whitton maintained that Blakeman’s plan is problematic.
“It’s a formula for disaster,” DeRiggi-Whitton mentioned. “The last thing we need is an armed civilian responding to an emergency when we need police.”
The plaintiffs declare that Blakeman’s plan is unconstitutional.
“The law on this is clear: the county executive does not have the authority to raise a private militia made up of thinly trained private citizens,” mentioned civil rights lawyer Josh Kelner. “County law 655 allows the county executive to draw law enforcement resources from surrounding municipalities in times of emergency. It doesn’t allow the government to call on private citizens and hand them badges.”
Blakeman’s plan to create a non-public militia is a legal responsibility danger for the county, Legislator Scott Davis mentioned.Nicole Formisano
The plan to arm personal residents is pointless for Nassau, which has been named the most secure county within the nation for seven years in a row, Davis mentioned, who additionally recommended that the plan is a legal responsibility tinderbox. The armed residents would lack the coaching, chain of command, and accountability that Nassau police have, he mentioned.
The swimsuit claims Blakeman purposely shrouded this system in secrecy, denying Freedom of Info Regulation requests from legislators searching for “basic information about the program.” It additionally claims that within the proposed 2025 county price range, Blakeman’s administration withheld all details about how this system is being paid for.
“There’s no transparency,” Koslow mentioned. “We don’t know what’s happening, who’s involved, what type of training they’re getting.”
Critics say the plan can also be redundant for the reason that county already has a volunteer Nassau County Auxiliary Police Division that help sworn officers and the county’s federally funded Workplace of Emergency Administration has a volunteer Group Emergency Response Workforce that’s activated throughout emergencies.
Solages cited the case of Trayvon Martin — an unarmed 17-year-old who was shot and killed in 2012 by an armed volunteer of the Neighborhood Watch in Florida — for instance of what occurs when personal residents are armed and given authority with out correct coaching.
“We’ve worked very hard to establish the safety that we have as a county of its size between the Nassau County Police Department and its community,” he mentioned. “We cannot afford any untrained actors to disrupt the peace that we have established as a community.”
