Latest news with #Nassau County


CBS News
05-08-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Nassau County's new state-of-the-art police training village is now open
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman took House Homeland Security Committee Chair Andrew Gabarino and former Rep. Peter King on a tour of the new David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence on Tuesday. It's a state-of-the-art police training village, with all the things one might expect to find anywhere in the country, including a bank, house of worship, school, and a Long Island Rail Road train and platform. Other features include a gas station, split-level home, a courtroom, bar and restaurant, and a police station, all for training purposes. "We can do active shooter [training] in here," Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said of the train station. "Colin Ferguson, the anniversary passed last year." Ryder touted the features of the police station. "It's like any other station house, has a real fingerprint and photograph machine. These are real, certified cells," Ryder said. "We should be bringing people from all over the country to train here. This is a fantastic site," Garbarino said. Blakeman said he has had inquiries from all over the globe. "We also share with other agencies, both domestic and international," Blakeman said. On Tuesday, local, state and federal law enforcement met to share counterterrorism ideas within the sprawling Mack Center. Some in Nassau County criticized spending $70 million on the center rather than addressing the way police work. "It's important for our police officers to be ready in a worst-case scenario situation. But it's also important for them to know how to de-escalate certain situations, and we want to make sure they have those resources," Nassau County Legislator Seth Koslow said. "I'm going to work with our state and local guys to make sure that a 9/11 never happens again," Garbarino said.


Fox News
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Democrat NY DA candidate under fire for inviting criminals to apply for high-paying campaign job
A Democrat vying to become Nassau County, New York's next district attorney is in the hot seat after a campaign job posting encouraged convicted criminals to apply and earn up to $7,000 a month. Candidate Nicole Aloise's campaign posted the ad to seeking a "communications director" to engage with the media and the public – but the line "people with a criminal record are encouraged to apply" is drawing ire from her opponent. "I think that's exactly what it says," incumbent Republican District Attorney Anne Donnelly told Fox News on Tuesday. "This criminal coddling that's been going on since they started with cashless bail, discovery reform, pay for free lawyers for everybody, is just getting out of hand. As the district attorney, my job is to prosecute criminals and to help victims, and nobody seems to care about the victims anymore." The job posting was later adjusted to remove the request for criminal applicants and the posting has since expired. Donnelly, a Republican, told "Fox & Friends First" she has no objection to criminals receiving a second chance after serving their time, but insisted Aloise inviting criminals into the "heart of [her] campaign for the highest ranking law enforcement officer of the county" suggests "she's blind to what her job is supposed to be." "We deal with sensitive material, we deal with confidential material, we deal with some of the most intriguing investigations that are going on — things that you can't share, except with trusted individuals, not criminals," she added. Some municipalities bar employers from discriminating against convicted criminals, The New York Post reported. Aloise's campaign manager, Ellen McCormick, provided the following statement to Fox News: "Nicole Aloise spent 16 years locking up violent felons. Donnelly's reaction to a setting on a third party website says more about her record than Nicole's. This story is a cheap shot by the Donnelley campaign to distract from the fact that Nicole has outraised her by almost $100,000 and that law enforcement unions chose Nicole over the sitting D.A. Maybe instead of focusing on this distraction, Donnelly should be working on getting crime under control and retaining her own staff. Crime in Nassau is up 44% on her watch while she's lost more than 90 experienced prosecutors due to her failed leadership." Donnelly refuted the statement, calling it the most "disingenuous" she had ever heard. "Crime is not up 44%. I spoke to the police commissioner yesterday. We are down in every major crime across the border in Nassau County. We were voted the safest county in the United States by US News and World Report. She did not outraise me by $100,000. I outraised her by $500,000, so disingenuous comments that they're making also say to me [that] she's not being honest in her campaign, she's not being truthful and being a district attorney is all about honesty and truth."