LI reps complain local police left out of stimulus
NewsdayAugust 1, 2009
The Long Island congressional delegation complained Friday that police departments in Nassau and Suffolk should have gotten some of the $1 billion in federal stimulus awarded last week by the Department of Justice.
"The . . . rationale to not provide Long Island police departments with funding because of a lack of comparative financial distress and Long Island's relative success in containing crime is completely asinine," the delegation said in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
"That Long Island police are being punished for their success is absurd," said the letter, signed by Democratic Reps. Gary Ackerman of Roslyn Heights, Tim Bishop of Southampton, Steve Israel of Huntington and Carolyn McCarthy of Mineola, along with Republican Rep. Peter King of Seaford.
The distribution formula rewarded localities with severe budget problems and high crime rates, and included some other factors, such as the willingness of the locality to do community policing.
New York City also lost out in the quest for the money.
About $19.9 million was awarded to 12 localities in New York State, including Poughkeepsie, Utica and Albany.
A Justice Department spokesman did not return a call for comment Friday.