Union officials say a detective shortage in Nassau County is only going to get worse as officers retire and the number of new applicants decreases.
Nassau County is budgeted for 360 detectives, but as of right now there are only 300.
Nassau County Police Detectives’ Association President John Wighaus says it’s been an ongoing issue for years.
“It’s like triage right now [for] the detectives. They have to pick and choose the cases, and some of the cases get pushed to the side because there just is not enough time or help to do some of these cases.”
Detectives tend to work longer term cases. They are expected to maintain contact with victims and families of victims for years at a time.
Wighaus says officers take a temporary pay decrease to become a detective, due to the heavier workload.
“Right now we have 44 detectives being paid as police officers, with the responsibilities that are there with the detective ranks. And how short we are, the cases keep piling up.”
Wighaus says the county hasn’t had any new applications for the position, and seven detectives have requested to go back to being patrol officers.
County Executive Laura Curran has said detective pay will be a part of the contract negotiation that’s now underway. Nassau County reported a historically low crime rate last year.
