'No Change' To Blakeman's Plan to Deputize Citizens In Nassau

MINEOLA, NY — A controversial plan pitched by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman to deputize private citizens is once again in the spotlight.

Last week, the New York Times posted an opinion piece asking whether Blakeman's plan to train 75 armed citizens was actually a "militia," a question that sparked debate on both sides of the aisle.

Looking for an update on the county initiative Monday, a Blakeman spokesperson would only tell Patch: "There is no change."

Blakeman said in April that provisional sheriff deputies "would not be activated unless there was a very significant emergency."

In past months, Blakeman hasa addressed critics who are opposed to his launching an armed unit of deputies to patrol in emergencies.

"The provisional deputy sheriffs are nothing more than a list, a database of people, who would be willing to volunteer in the event that there was an emergency," Blakeman said. "They would not be activated unless there was a very significant emergency."

Shortly before Blakeman spoke at the time, dozens gathered on the steps of the Legislative Building to air their concerns about the plan, including the question of what constitutes an emergency.

Blakeman announced that the deputies would have to wear uniforms that identified them as special provisional deputies "so that they don't get injured by police or other law enforcement."

Approximately 100 people applied to be deputies, and Blakeman said he was being proactive by building up resources for worst-case scenarios.

"They would not be going out on patrol," he said. "Primarily, their task would be to guard and protect government buildings, hospitals, utility plants, sewer treatment plants, churches, mosques and synagogues and things of that nature."

Blakeman said using the deputies in that way "would free up our police officers to do other work."

Despite skills in the use of firearms as a key criterion for the job and preference for those with law enforcement and military background, the county executive said everyone would be trained, from the use of deadly force to the penal law.

"Most of the people on this database list that we have don't even need it," he said. "It'll be a refresher course for them."

He said in April that he expected to have the first group of 25 provisional deputies potentially ready for duty soon; no update on the first trainees was immediately given Monday.

Before the deputies are officially certified, "they have to get a letter from their physician that they are fit both mentally and physically," he said.

Training aside, "they will have no powers whatsoever unless an emergency is declared," Blakeman said. "I don't know why there are people [who] are opposed to this. They all are licensed to carry or have a firearm. I don't know what the whole brouhaha is all about."

But many have spoken out against the plans.

"What's an emergency? Is it going to be when a Black Lives Matter march happens? Is it going to be when a Palestinian march happens? Is it going to be when the St. Patty's Day parade happens in Long Beach? I don't know. What's an emergency?" Michael Moore, a member of the Nassau County FEMA Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), told Patch in March.

Moore, who spent two decades as a Nassau County court officer, first saw an advertisement seeking deputies.

"The first thing that popped into my mind was he's raising a militia," Moore said.

Others agreed: "Although Nassau is one of the safest communities in America, County Executive Bruce Blakeman is intent on empowering gun-owning residents by creating an inadequately trained and illegal militia," Jody Kass, coordinator of the good government group, Concerned Citizens of NY-03, said.

"Residents are so concerned about the dangers posed by this militia that a working group has formed to actively fight it," Kass said. "Residents from Great Neck, Bellmore, Merrick, Manhasset, Baldwin, Plainview and other communities across Nassau are determined to see Bruce Blakeman’s dangerous militia disbanded."