Long Island’s Nassau County is in the process of putting together a task force of “special deputies,” which is made up of armed civilians and is designed to be activated whenever the County Executive, Bruce Blakeman, sees fit to do so.
Blakeman initially posted a call in March for residents with gun permits and an interest in becoming “provisional emergency special deputy sheriffs.” The posting called the project a strategy to assist in the “protection of human life and property during an emergency” like a hurricane or blackout, or a “riot,” which Blakeman later added.
Nassau County is currently recruiting 75 armed citizens, many of whom are former police officers and veterans.
In an interview with The Times, Blakeman said the program was about “providing another layer of protection” for residents. “I didn’t want to be in a situation where we had a major emergency and we needed help and people were not properly vetted or trained,” he said.
However, the new task force has received considerable opposition from officials, particularly in a county that has one of the largest police departments in the country. This contributes to a wider discussion about authoritarian forces during a time when both major parties have conflicting views about what represents American democracy, especially during election season, considering Trump’s arguments about the validity of voting in the past.
Sabine Margolis, an I.T. program manager from Great Neck, told The Times that Blakeman was using the pretext of an emergency response team to create a “clandestine armed presence.” Her online petition called “Stop Bruce Blakeman’s Personal Nassau County Militia” has received more than 2,600 signatures, and opponents have held rallies protesting both the program and the lack of clarification on what training entails, along with the scope of recruitment and limits of the deputies’ duties.
“It’s fear-mongering, and it’s very damaging to people,” Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, the Democratic minority leader of the County Legislature, told The Times. “It’s the opposite way we want to be going, a private militia with guns. We’re trying to work on gun control, rather than promote them.”
Blakeman reported that 25 applicants out 100 have been trained so far, and he plans to train 50 more. His office did not provide their names but disclosed their backgrounds as a mix of retired police officers, former veterans, other emergency responders, and a bank chairman.
