Election years nowadays are dominated by discussions of maintaining public safety and fostering transparent, respected police forces. Last year’s local 2023 elections were no exceptions, with Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) running on a platform of public safety and major staff overhauls to the Suffolk County Police Department.
The major objective for Romaine was to fill positions within the department that were left vacant by the administration of former County Executive Steve Bellone (D-West Babylon). The vacancies not only accounted for a slimmer police force, but also a budget vacuum, as taxpayer dollars continued to fund a police budget that was not being adequately represented, from retirements in higher leadership to less rank-and-file officers on patrol.
Last Thursday, at the Police Headquarters in Yaphank, Romaine was joined by Police Commissioner Robert Waring, members of the SCPD, and members of the Suffolk County Legislature, all of whom ran alongside Romaine on a ticket of promoting and maintaining public safety.
“It is a great day for Suffolk County because we have a great police department,” said Romaine. “But recently we’ve had a lot of retirements and we’ve had positions that were in the budget that we all pay taxes for that were left vacant. In fact, last year I pointed out that fifty-two positions that were listed in the budget for detectives were left vacant, despite the fact we were paying taxes towards those positions. I don’t believe in budgets like that. I believe if you put a position in the budget and you fund it, and you charge taxpayers for it, you fill it. And we need these positions. So today, we are going to promote sixty-eight people in this department.”
Romaine also said that an ongoing class has 129 officers in it, and in the summer, the class will exceed 200 officers.
Romaine listed the positions slated to be filled: three deputy inspectors, a captain, six lieutenants, two detective sergeants, thirty sergeants, and twenty-four detectives.
“The detectives are critical, because our patrol officers are out there all the time, and if they’re seeing something, they’re responding,” said Romaine. “But sometimes, you’re not there all the time, and sometimes you need detectives to go back and take a look at what happened, trace down the culprits, and get the guilty party. And let me just say, we are going to get the guilty parties. We are going to get those who break into cars, smash windows, steal catalytic converters, or run into the CVS and grab products and leave.”
Romaine also mentioned that Governor Kathy Hochul (D) is proposing state aid for stores that are victimized by smash-and-grab ambushes.
“We’re not going to allow that here in Suffolk County,” said Romaine. “We’re going to protect and respect our police officers. I can assure you that we have a District Attorney [Ray Tierney] who will prosecute and not release people who attack our police officers without bail.”
Commissioner Robert Waring then took the podium after Romaine. Waring will remain in his role as Suffolk’s Police Commissioner, a role to which he was appointed in January, and will continue to serve as the Chief of the Department.
“This announcement is great news for our members of the community we serve,” said Waring. “We have sixty-eight people beginning a new chapter in their law enforcement careers. I would like to offer my congratulations to all of them, some of whom are here with us today.”
Waring announced the highest promotion of the day in the form of Darrell Simmons as the new Chief of Detectives. Chief Simmons previously served as Deputy Chief of Detectives and has been a member of the department for thirty-seven years.
“I have personally worked with him over the years, and I know he will be instrumental in leading the detective division in fighting and solving crimes,” said Waring.
Waring also announced the promotion of William Doherty to the role of Deputy Chief of Patrol. Doherty has been a member of the department for twenty-eight years and was an Executive Officer in the Third Precinct.
Colleen Cooney was also promoted to Deputy Inspector and now serves as the department’s second-highest-ranked female officer. Cooney has been with the department for thirty-one years and heads the communications and records bureau.
“Every person who has been promoted should have a strong sense of pride and accomplishment,” said Waring. “Policing is a demanding but rewarding career and they have proven themselves ready for the next challenge. On Tuesday, more than thirty supervisors were promoted. This provides an opportunity for them to lead by example, and I am confident that they will. The addition of twenty-four detectives reinforces our detective squads who investigate the most serious crimes. These new detectives have proven that they have necessary skills to be effective investigators. We are committed to public safety and serving our communities. These promotions ensure we have the resources to do that.”
Presiding Officer of the Suffolk County Legislature Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst) spoke after Waring.
“It is really a pleasure to be here with all my colleagues who are very instrumental across all party lines to make sure that we make public safety a priority here in Suffolk County,” said McCaffrey. “That started with the last budget that we approved that amended the County Executive’s budget to increase the amount of police officers put on the street. And as the commissioner knows, you can’t make promotions if you don’t have police officers put on the backfill. So, we’ve made sure that’s happened over the last couple of years. We’ve made a commitment along with the county executive to make sure that the 225 police officers that we put in this year’s budget are going to be hired and go through the academy and put on the streets.”
McCaffrey also said that having no vacancies in the force is a clear priority.
Deputy Presiding Officer and Chair of the Public Safety Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee Steve Flotteron (R-Brightwaters) declared the day one of “promises made, promises kept.”
“For many years I’ve been yelling about proportional budget,” said Flotteron. “A lot of positions are just not filled, but then our overtime explodes because we’re not filling positions. It’s just bad management. This is one of the safest counties in the country. We wanted to be the safest county in the country. Part of the way of getting there is by filling these positions. The County Executive has been here just over six weeks and we’ve already gotten this far.”
When asked about the purpose of leaving the positions open and leaving holes in the budget, Romaine said that he did not want to “characterize” his predecessor [Bellone], but that if “you get a job in the budget and you tax people, you should fill that job. If you’re not, then you’re getting additional monies.”
“I have no idea what they did with the additional funds, we are looking at it now,” said Romaine.”
Romaine concluded by speaking of the need to reinforce public safety, a common goal shared by himself and the Suffolk County Legislature.
“It’s something that transcends party lines. It’s something that we all care about, and I cannot say thank you enough for their support in this endeavor, to ensure that we’re seeing police officers on our streets today to keep our people safe,” said Romaine.
Romaine and Waring were joined by several officers who received promotions on Thursday, Suffolk County Comptroller John Kennedy (R-Nesconset), as well as Suffolk County Legislators Ann Welker (D-Southampton), Nick Caracappa (C-Selden), Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue), Sam Gonzalez (D-Brentwood), Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset), Rebecca Sanin (D-Huntington Station), and Stephanie Bontempi (R-Centerport).
