Northport public listening session addresses village’s police concerns

By Chris Cumella

The Village of Northport Board of Trustees held a virtual conference via Zoom Feb. 2 to extend outreach to the community and welcome any questions, comments or concerns that the residents had about the village police force.

The meeting was part of an ongoing effort to comply with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) executive order for police reform and reinvention.

Speaking with 37 participants, the board of trustees discussed reformation plans for the Northport Village Police Department moving forward. Representatives said that they have already taken the village’s residents and their thoughts into consideration through a series of surveys directed towards different demographics of those residing in Northport.

“We had done random survey sampling of residents within the Northport zip code,” said Mayor Damon McMullen, referring to one of the five surveys that the Northport local government had sent out to the general public as a means to receive feedback. “We put that survey online so additional residents could partake, and we could get more comment and opinion in that venue.”

According to Joe Schramm, a marketing and communications executive and member of the Northport Village Police Review Committee, the committee has been seeking input from the community to understand how the public perceives the work of the village’s police force. There were a variety of methods for gathering public feedback that the committee had been using.

An anonymous survey was mailed out two weeks ago to residents in the 11768 area code, to which 78 percent responded. Schramm said the results were primarily positive. Another anonymous survey targeted seniors of Northport High School. However, the committee had only seen a 5 percent response rate, which Schramm detailed as “not quite reliable.”

Regardless of their location, surveyors were also able to answer yet another anonymous survey on the Village of Northport official website, which had shown an attractive response rate of over 200 participants. All surveys had closed at 5 p.m. Jan. 31.

“We are listening to 100 percent of your commentary,” Schramm said to the participants. “We are taking every single comment into consideration. We’ll have the chance to review things. We’re going to take all the comments people had made about the previous four tactics as well.”

While the police committee received positive feedback, it did not come without criticism. A common concern was addressed by a couple of participants in the call regarding an alleged altercation between a former Northport policeman and a resident, which caused the ex-officer to draw his weapon on the other individual.

First brought to the board’s attention by a Zoom participant and village resident known as Mary, the quarrel occurred Sept. 28 when “a Trump supporters caravan” with concealed license plates had rolled down Woodbine Avenue exhibiting flags and signs in support of the former president.

Stuart Besen, village attorney, said that the board could not comment. However, an ongoing investigation is being made in  cooperation with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Another resident, Patricia Naples, addressed her concerns about the incident by calling the situation worrying. “Who gives anybody the right to draw a gun because you legally have the right to own one?” she said. “Carry a gun, sure, but you cannot take it out in this village.”

McMullen closed the meeting by reinforcing the idea that it was through public outreach that any changes would transpire in the Village of Northport.

“We’ve been doing a very good job compared to a lot of other municipalities,” the mayor said. “Village residents are not the only ones that are impacted by the Northport Village police. We wanted to get a reaction from the rest of the community.”