A New York City Police Department chief has been selected as the next commissioner of the troubled Nassau County Police Department.
County Executive Edward Mangano selected Thomas V. Dale, a 61-year-old resident of Oyster Bay township, to serve as police commissioner shortly after the state Inspector General issued a report on the department’s scandalized crime lab and the acting police commissioner proposed closing two precincts to save money.
Newsday first reported the story Saturday on their website after Mangano’s press office refused to answer Long Island Press questions Friday concerning the transition.
“Nassau County is one of the safest large counties in the nation and I will work tirelessly to ensure it stays that way because I live here too,” Dale said in a statement issued through Mangano’s office Monday.
Dale has been the NYPD’s chief of personnel. Acting Commissioner Thomas Krumpter will reportedly serve as Dale’s first deputy commissioner.
Dale is expected to take command on Jan. 2, pending legislative approval. The county legislature will likely take up the issue at its Dec. 19 meeting.
Mangano said in a statement that the department “is at a crossroads and will benefit from Tom’s experience and leadership.” The inspector general’s report released earlier this month found chronic systemic failures at the county’s crime lab dating back to at least 2005.
Dale was quoted as saying he will focus on keeping crime rates low in the county.
He is not the first ex-NYPD official picked to head the department. Former County Executive Tom Suozzi, a Democrat, appointed James Lawrence, a former city police official, head of the department in 2002. He was succeeded by Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey, a longtime Nassau police official, in 2007 until Mulvey retired in April.
Mangano appointed Krumpter to fill Mulvey’s seat. Krumpter was promptly tasked with determining which two of the department’s eight precincts should be closed to help the county close a projected $300 million budget gap.
The Republican county executive has also said he plans to fight the police union rule’s regarding minimum-manning requirements, a task Dale will inherit.
-With Associated Press.