Office of the Nassau County Comptroller

Mineola - An operational review of three commands within the support division of the Nassau County Police Department has uncovered nearly $5 million in potential cost savings, much of it recurring annually. The three commands reviewed account for 4.5 percent of the total county police budget.

The review, conducted by Nassau County Comptroller Howard S. Weitzman and believed to be the first operational audit of the police department by the comptroller's office, reveals that the police department can achieve significant cost reductions by civilianizing 36 positions currently held by uniformed officers working in administrative units.

According to Weitzman, the financially beleaguered county can save more than $2.2 million annually (not including associated overtime costs) through civilianizing 17 positions in the police department's records bureau, 13 in its information systems bureau and six within the court liaison unit. This potential savings represents about nine percent of the 2001 cost of $24.5million for the three areas.

"Our savings calculations are based on the assumptions that when police officers leave the force, other officers in certain administrative positions can be redeployed. This will free up those positions to be filled by civilians in the Civil Service-title positions identified in our report," says Weitzman. The comptroller notes that some of the recommendations contained in his office's report may be subject to negotiation with the county's labor unions.

Weitzman says other savings are possible through the increased use of computer technology to improve efficiency with respect to document storage and retrieval; the processing of $705,000 in unpaid fines on outstanding warrants dating back to 1996; operational improvements in the records bureau's pistol license section and the elimination of unnecessary clothing allowances.

In addition, the police department's information systems bureau has estimated that department-wide annual savings of $1.7 million are possible through the elimination of manual posting of time and leave. This is currently a duplicative process since employee-leave usage also is entered in the department's computer system.

Weitzman, who has championed the need for increased computerization in the county to foster efficiencies, says he was not surprised by his auditors' findings that the police department's use of advanced technology lacked cohesiveness and that it remains overly reliant on costly, paper-intensive processes for arrest processing, warrants, accident and sealed records. "While the Nassau County Police Department is among the finest in the nation, clearly, there is room for marked improvement in its use of computer technology," says Weitzman.

Another audit issued by the comptroller's office early last month revealed that Nassau County also does not have complete, comprehensive, effective and up-to-date disaster-recovery plans for its computer systems, including the department's independently maintained system.

Weitzman notes that despite duplicative processes for recording time and leave within the police department, his auditors found a lack of management oversight and a weakness in control over the granting of overtime. Particularly revealing, says Weitzman, was the finding that a uniformed officer who was the records bureau's timekeeper responsible for entering overtime earned approximately $61,000 in overtime last year, the second highest amount in the police department. This significantly boosted his pension upon retirement to nearly $100,000 a year.

The audit report also cites operational inefficiencies caused by the police department's various work schedules and tours of duty - including instances of built-in overtime, as well as the excessive use of uniformed officers to perform largely clerical functions such as operating facsimile machines, a practice that has now been discontinued.

Weitzman notes that the Nassau County Police Department - comprised of 78 commands with approximately 3,725 employees, including 2,595 police officers as of Oct. 1 - agrees with the majority of his office's audit findings and recommendations and has already taken some corrective actions. The police department's written responses are incorporated in the report, while the full text of the department's responses is included as an addendum. The audit report is posted on the Web at www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/comptroller.

Civilianization and Computerization Within Police Dept. Could Save Nassau County $Millions, Audit Reveals

Civilianization and Computerization Within Police Dept.
Could Save Nassau County $Millions, Audit Reveals