The more than six-month search for the next Suffolk County Police Commissioner has been limited to 20 candidates, with a target year-end date to select a director for one of the largest departments in the country.
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone will appoint the new top cop from at least three candidates. The new commissioner will be the first since the department passed a reform plan propelled by the Black Lives Matter movement, officials who led the search said.
Deputy County Officers Jon Kaiman and Vanessa Baird-Streeter, who chaired the search committee and the body that produced the report for the Suffolk County’s Police Reform and Reinvention Task Force, said the steps outlined in the 1,000-page plan lay the foundation for the search for a new commissioner.
What the residents want
The next head of the country’s 13th-largest police department with 2,400 officers needs a strong background in public safety, said Kaiman and Baird-Streeter. The panel heard from thousands of people during the seven-month period, officials said. Local residents said they want a commissioner who advocates change, social justice and fairness.
Proponents of changes in the county’s police practice praised some elements of the plan, including those that would stop vehicle searches based solely on driver consent at traffic stops.
Some community activists and local residents criticized the plan when it was adopted by county lawmakers this year, saying the document did not go far enough to address racial and ethnic bias in policing or to create accountability for official wrongdoing.
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“The overwhelming concern is ensuring that there is fair justice and just policing in Suffolk County,” Baird-Streeter said in a recent interview with Newsday of conversations with community members. “They want to develop relationships with the police. They want the police to know their communities.”
The successful candidate will replace Geraldine Hart, the former FBI officer who headed the department for three years before stepping down in May to become head of security at Hofstra University. Long-time supervisor Stuart Cameron has served as the assistant commissioner since Hart stepped down from his $ 175,288 job.
Search found 54 résumés
Kaiman and Baird-Streeter declined to nominate applicants, but said the nine-member search panel received 54 résumés from across the country representing a variety of backgrounds and experiences, including women and people of color.
“We have people from all over the country,” said Baird-Streeter. “Northeast, yes, south, yes, Central America, yes.”
“It’s a wide range from anywhere, including the surrounding area,” added Kaiman.
“It is an extraordinary process to speak to these senior law enforcement experts from across the country and get their insights,” said Kaiman. “They read our plan, our police reform plan, so look at what we do, they follow us, and now we have an opportunity to literally let them see the substance of what we do and what we do.”
Police reform in focus
The new commissioner will be responsible for implementing reforms to the police plan, including expanding the use of body cameras, deploying mental health experts on some emergency calls, and appointing the Suffolk Human Rights Commission to monitor complaints of police misconduct and bias.
“It’s really helpful to have these interviews with the candidates because we learn a lot more about them and we learn a lot more about policing in other areas of the country,” said Baird-Streeter.
The next leader will rise to the challenge of reforming a department that has been criticized for corruption and abuse. In March, two Suffolk officials accused of beating a suspected car thief were suspended and three others were placed on modified service for alleged failure to intervene.
Former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke pleaded guilty in 2016 to violating the civil rights of a Smithtown man he beat up in a police station and then organizing a crime cover-up by the department. Burked served most of his 46-month sentence before he was released.
The department, along with the Nassau County Police Department, is also struggling to recruit minorities.
Adjustment problems
A Newsday investigation in May reported that despite decades of surveillance by the U.S. Department of Justice, black and Hispanic candidates were excluded from the competition at higher rates than their white counterparts during the hiring process, which includes a physical fitness test and a background exam.
Newsday found that 1,419 black applicants for the Suffolk division produced just 16 black police officers in the four years following a test in 2015.
The Newsday investigation also showed that Nassau County only hired 36 black police officers out of a pool of 2,508 black applicants who had passed the 2012 police test. Of 3,389 Hispanic applicants from the same test, 89 were hired.
Baird-Streeter and Kaiman admitted that mistrust of the police in minority communities remains high.
“It is so important for the head of the department to be able to develop relationships within communities, especially those marginalized communities that do not have good relations with the police and law enforcement officers,” said Baird-Streeter.
Understand different communities
Civil rights activists agree that the next commissioner must work to dispel suspicions of residents who believe they have been targeted by police because of their race or ethnicity.
“Long Island continues to struggle with racial differences, and we need a leader who is aware of the needs of the black and brown communities,” said Serena Liguori, member of the reform committee, director of New Hour for Women and Children, a social services agency that supports detainees Women and their families. “The police should not only reflect the communities they work with, but also understand the needs of the communities.”
Many officials, meanwhile, have become demoralized for saying they have unfairly criticized law enforcement and a political culture that disregards their work, union leaders say. Suffolk Police Charity President Noel DiGerolamo believes like Liguori that the reform plan should be a priority for the next commissioner.
“I have confidence in the government that it will conduct a thorough search and find the best candidate to move the reform process forward,” said DiGerolamo.
The search is almost over
Kaiman and Baird-Streeter said Bellone will soon receive a list of finalists.
When asked why the search took more than six months, Baird-Streeter said, “I think it was important to us to make sure we really research our candidates by looking at the references they provided and those they provided See work done in the churches they serve. “
Michael O’Keeffe covers Suffolk County Police and other Long Island law enforcement agencies. He is an award-winning journalist and co-author of two books, “The Card” and “American Icon”.
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