Historically, a posse comitatus was a group of people recruited by the Sheriff to enforce the law or for the immediate pursuit of a suspect. Today we have police departments, Sheriffs and their deputies, state police, FBI, DEA, HSI, among others, totaling about 800,000 law enforcements in the United States to protect and serve Americans. New York State has over 60,000 police officers with 36,000 in NYC, 2,500 in Nassau County and 2,700 in Suffolk County. This number does not include the hundreds of thousands of Peace Officers throughout America that are also trained, vetted and authorized to carry a firearm. But these numbers do not impress Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and he thinks we need more.
On March 28, CBS news reported that Blakeman is looking to recruit U.S. citizens from Nassau County between the ages of 21 through 72 who possess gun permits to assist police in declared emergencies. They must pass a background check, a drug test and have a doctor’s report confirming their physical fitness. The same day there were people waiting on line for gun licenses at Nassau Police headquarters and 80 people have already shown interest in the proposal.
Blakeman stated, “I didn’t want to wait until an emergency to try and scramble and find people. You have to vet them, you have to train them. I’m hoping I never have to activate them, but it would be foolish not to acquire the database ahead of time.”
The reaction was divided as expected, with one person saying, “it’s a horrible idea” and another saying, “Helping each other is the best thing that can be done”. Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton who doesn’t think it’s a good idea to give private citizens badges because Nassau County would be liable, stated, “We’re not the Wild West”. The Nassau County Police Department abstained from issuing a comment.
Responding to State declared emergencies is the function of that State’s National Guard who are trained and authorized to perform that function under governmental authority. It is imperative to create a distinction between helping people after a natural disaster and performing police work even if the police function is only to assist.
Deputizing citizens to perform police work is like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and not throwing it. It’s a dangerous situation and just not a good idea. This is reminiscent of the early American west when the Sheriff would gather citizens to hunt for an outlaw. Many times they acted on pure emotion and were influenced by mob mentality.
How many citizens would have been on line at Nassau Police Headquarters if the mission was to deliver meals on wheels to the elderly, clean the highway of litter or drive a school bus for the county?
But when you describe the mission as assisting police and carrying guns it conjures up a different image for people.
Will the deputized citizens eventually be used to assist police officers in non-declared emergencies; ie., slow police recruitment or high sick rate among cops? It’s inevitable that once this group is in place it will be tempting to use them more than once every five or ten years during a State declared emergency. The County could find many reasons to use the lesser paid deputies, i.e., parades, traffic enforcement and auxiliary patrols. Police unions would not be happy with that in addition to the liability it poses to Nassau County.
Far too many times, even after months of training and years of experience, police professionals have been involved in shootings and other incidents that have had devastating consequences.
It’s a great idea to be proactive and prepared for any emergency, but the county should not deputize paid volunteers to be used occasionally to assist police in declared emergencies. Let’s leave police work to well trained and well paid police professionals and use the State National Guard to assist in declared emergencies.
