Orangetown Night Out Survives Budget Cuts

The Orangetown Police Department brought the National Night Out Against Crime to Orangetown the last four years with the help of volunteers from other groups in town.

Then it seemed like the event might be lost to budget cuts.

"Those funds were prioritized in our budget for 2012," Orangetown Police Chief Kevin Nulty said during Tuesday's Orangetown Police Commission meeting. "We weren’t going to be able to have it. But what I hoped would happen did happen. STAC (St. Thomas Aquinas College) and the Orangeburg Fire Department want to partner and run the event."

The 29th Annual National Night Out Against Crime is scheduled for Aug. 7. According to the National Night Out website, the event is designed with the following goals in mind:

• Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
• Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs;
• Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and
• Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

Last year, Orangetown Police organized the town's participation in the 28th Annual National Night Out, an event designed to build connections between residents and law enforcement. The last two events were held at Veteran's Memorial Park. This time around, it returns to Tappan Zee High School, where it was the first two years it was held in Orangetown.

Nulty said the Orangetown Police will still be involved. He is hoping to use money from the youth fund to pay for the fireworks and have a table set up for recruiting potential officers.

"It is close to a police officer exam, so we may set up a table to get people to take the police test," Nulty said.

Orangetown Councilman Denis Troy asked if Nulty had spoken to the PBA about volunteering to help. Nulty said he would look into it and that the plan to keep the event going just came together very recently.

"I thought the police presence there was good for young people," Troy said. "It is a different way to interface with young people."

Among other items Nulty addressed during Tuesday's police commission.

• Nulty requested a meeting with the town board regarding the labor contract between the town and the Orangetown Police Department Management, which includes the Chief of Police, Police Captain and Administrative Lieutenant. The contracts expired Dec. 31, 2010. The town's new five-year contract with the Orangetown Police does not apply to those three positions.
• Nulty said that an officer recently let him know he would be retiring. Nulty and the town council have spoken earlier this year about the importance of officers giving as much notice as possible if they are going to retire.
• Nulty asked the board for permission to attend the 119th Annual Training Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in San Diego, CA from Sept. 29, 2012 to Oct. 3, 2012. The conference will be paid for with asset forfeiture money from a gambling case. This is set up for Rockland County police chiefs by the district attorney's office.
• There was a spike in overtime in the Orangetown Police Department in June. Nulty said part of that was due to two large cases and absence of officers on long-term disability. Councilman Tom Diviny said that the increase in overtime was expected due to the retirement of three officers earlier this year.