Nassau Police Detective Shortage May End With New Contract

MINEOLA, NY — Nassau County lawmakers this week unanimously approved an 8 1/2-year labor deal with the union representing the county's police detectives, and union officials expect the new contract will help the address a massive detective shortage.

As Patch previously reported, the Nassau County Detectives Association was without a contract for about two years. John Wighaus, president of the union, told Patch cases were piling up as fewer and fewer street cops applied for the promotion. Nassau County budgeted for 360 detectives, but the department had just 300 in September.

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Wighaus and the county acknowledged the shortage stemmed from the old contract. Despite more work, a pay increase of $2,400 wasn't enough to encourage police officers to seek promotions.

But on Monday, the Nassau County Legislature signed off on a new contract that calls for larger pay raises and a revamped step program. The Nassau County Interim Finance Authority board must still sign off on the contract, but the deal was negotiated cooperatively by the county and the authority.

In announcing the deal Monday, Laura Curran, the county executive, and Wighaus said the police department promoted two-dozen officers to detective, which helps close the gap in the detective squads in the two recently opened precincts.

"As County Executive, my number one priority is the safety of our residents and keeping crime at historic lows," Curran said in a news release, adding that the deal will boost law enforcement's ability to fight crime and safeguard Nassau communities.

"I congratulate the DAI for moving forward first in collective bargaining and the Nassau County Legislature for recognizing the importance of this agreement,” Curran said.

In a phone interview with Patch on Wednesday, Wighaus said he was happy with the contract, which calls for raising pay 15 percent over the length of the contract, which remains in effect until 2026.

"We believe this contract, with its raises and new grade structure, provides a career path not only for police officers that are going to want to make detective, but just as importantly, it will retain many of the current senior members of the detective division," he said.

With 24 new detectives coming to the division, Wighaus hopes others will feel encouraged to follow in their footsteps. There are three detective grades now, two of which everyone can make. The third is based on seniority and can only be attained by meeting certain criteria such as time in the division and number of cases handled.

"There is a career path for these guys now within the detective division," Wighaus said.

Under the old contract, officers who made third-grade detective would get a $2,400 raise. They would then get a small raise every 15 months under the step program until hitting 75 months, or about 6 1/4 years. The old contract was back-loaded, so the biggest raise came at the end of those 75 months.

Under the new contract, the steps were lowered to a year in length. Police officers promoted to the first step of third-grade detective would see an initial pay bump of more than $6,200. And instead of waiting 75 months to reach the top pay grade, new detectives would only have to wait 48 months, or four years. In the next tier up, second-grade detectives would see a jump of about $8,000 more than the top third-grade pay. Furthermore, everyone will flow into second-grade detective status, Wighaus said.

Under the new contract, detectives will have to pay a portion of their health insurance costs beginning in 2021. They'll also have to work an extra five days a year.

"We feel this is a fair deal for everybody, including the taxpayers," Wighaus said.

Police are still 36 detectives short, but Wighaus is optimistic NIFA will fully ratify the contract in early February and the gap will eventually close, boosting squads dedicated to investigating gangs, narcotics and more. Cases will also be spread out more and caseloads will be more manageable.