Profile in Blue (ca 1975)

[Music] a [Music] [Music] this is Nassau County Executive Ralph queso we are going on patrol with the air Bureau of the Nassau County Police Department I'd like you to come along with me and see firsthand the county we live in spread out on the 300 square miles below us are the nearly 1 and 1/2 million people who live in nassa County for the most part they live in private homes from the low-lying wetlands of of the Southshore to the hilly Northshore which faces across Long Island Sound to Connecticut despite its multitude of residents homes and industrial areas Nassau County is in many respects a transitory area lying between New York City and suff County and literally hundreds of thousands of vehicles pass through it and interweave along its roads every day of the week with all this constant movement generated by business Suburban living and recreational Pursuit the demand for a modern mobile highly professional and trained Police Department is of utmost importance if the problems arising from such frenetic activity are to be met although there are 23 small village police departments in Nassau the brunt of the job of providing the infinite number of police services required falls upon the shoulders of the Nassau County Police Department's 4,000 member Force it is without doubt one of the finest police departments in the nation and here is where it works on Peace Officers Memorial Day 1975 citizens of Nassau County and members of the police department listened to an address by commissioner Lewis J Frank today is a day of remembrance for every police officer and citizen in the land course today is the commemoration of peace Officers Memorial Day we must pause and reflect on the sacrifices and accomplishments of all the brave men and women who through dedication to their neighbors in communities throughout the United States chose to take on a task of monumental proportions this has been the course which many dedicated police have chosen since sheriffs and constables kept the PE PE for the early colonists the Nassau County Police Department has not been in existence for such a long period of time but we have in the past 50 years of our existence made great strides in the development of modern law enforcement we have grown from the beginning stages when the department was formed on April 16th 1925 under the leadership of then Chief Abram Skidmore into the modern Progressive and respected Department we are today our ranks have increased from the original 55 men who were sworn as the first nasau County police officers in 1925 to the present compliment of almost 4,000 men and women who Patrol our streets plus another approximate thousand men and women who serve as civilian components these people who respond to the cries for help and assist in making Nassau County the peaceful and secure place it is today 23 men and women have given their lives for the people of this County in the service of the police department over the last 50 years many others have been severely injured we must not ever forget the sacrifices made by our officers in the interest of the well-being of the community and its citizens these sacrifices were made for every one of us and although the debt can never be repaid we must not cease in our efforts to show our great appreciation and gratitude thank you very [Applause] much the basement of the Old Courthouse in Minneola provided the first headquarters of the Nassau County Police Department in August 1925 it moved to the old courthouse annex where the county executive building now stands in the early days police cars had hard rubber tires and regulations demanded that the tops be kept down except in rain or snow only in emergencies did police vehicles exceed 20 M an hour and the chief advised his motorcycle Patrol not to hide behind Hedges to catch unwary [Music] Speeders police officers then as now showed great concern for the safety of children when you went to school in those days boys wore knickers and girls wore [Music] bangs the flaunting in the 1920s of the federal law and prohibition the general let down after World War I at NASA's proximity to New York City gave County Police problems with things like illegal Stills and wire rooms but they made the message clear to organized crime stay out of Nassau County efficiency has been the goal of the County Police Department from its beginning and since Communications is the lifeline of good Police Service it introduced a radio system to contact patrol cars in the early 1930s crude as this looks it made the department a leader just as its modern 911 emergency dialing system makes the Nassau County Police Department outstanding today manned both by officers and civilians Nassau's 911 emergency system assures that police assistance is but minutes away to see how it works let's listen to an incoming call police emergency 175 yes would you please send an ambulance the address 273 Rudolph road minola man collaps in the front lawn and I think he's had a heart attack I don't know let me have it cross street uh Brooks Avenue all right let me have the number you're calling from 422 0172 please hurry last name please ma'am uh cartel okay we'll send ambulance right down thank [Music] you the police dispatcher knows the status of all Patrol units in service aware of the availability of car 344 he radios the officer driving that vehicle quarters a car 344 car 344 number 273 Rudolph road minola cardiac hi case ambulance 2360 responding from headquarters 0958 okay 344 once that message is received and acknowledged and the police officer in the patrol car begins moving toward the scene of the emergency the status of his vehicle changes the light for car 344 turns red on the status board to indicate he is responding to the call he is not alone or there are cardiac ambulance units in each of the eight precincts as well as at Police Headquarters each operated by a highly qualified medical technician speed of of course is important when responding to a cardiac case since minutes can spell the difference between life and death but knowledge and preparation for situations like this are important too and that's why every police officer in Nassau County gets Advanced first aid training as well as courses in cardiopulmonary resuscitation his backup man coming in the ambulance has had even more training these police officers or their civilian counterparts have nearly two 200 hours of study in emergency medical techniques on top of this they can quickly contact hospitals By Radio Doctor I have a 52-year old male with chest pains for an hour all vital signs are stable looks like he's having some PVCs let we give him 100 Mig of lidocane IV cardiac base at 2360 administer lidocane push Nassau County was one of the first Municipal police departments to go into the prehosp Hospital phase of Cardiac Care and its system is often used as an example of its kind in public [Music] safety but 911 emergency calls can mean anything and there are over a 100,000 of them every [Music] year back in 1927 World attention focused on Nassau County and free created a security and crowd control problem for its police a prize had been offered for the first person to make a non-stop flight between New York and Paris and this was where the flights would take off if indeed they succeeded for many had died in the attempt but a new competitor named Charles Lindberg landed in minola crowds almost mobbed him Lindberg personally and in writing thanked the nasau County Police for protecting him and his plane a week later defying bad weather he decided to take off unlike the others he would fly alone in a plane that could Cruise only 100 m an hour with little sleep before leaving he'd have to stay awake for a day and a half across the ocean needing every drop of gasoline he overloaded his plane putting 2 and 1/2 tons on its slender Wheels if he ground looped off the narrow strip at Rosevelt Field he would fatally crash his mechanic and a Nassau policeman with the last ones to bid him goodbye thus began the famous flight from Nassau County by Young Charles Lindberg in the Spirit of St Lewis [Music] I half sensy has passed since the Lindberg flight and the Nassau police department now has wings of its own besides a fixed Wing plane its air buau uses helicopters to Aid persons in distress transport emergency cases to hospitals and handle other assignments while maintaining constant liaison with all police commands the department early acquired watero capability because of the County's miles of Shoreline today it has police boats equipped to meet all water emergencies and every man aboard is trained in swimming rescue in addition to their police tasks the men of the Marine Bureau help obtain water samples contain oil spills reset navigational device es and do storm watches and Ice [Music] breaking in 1930 Nassau County Police Headquarters moved into its new building on 15th Street near Franklin Avenue in minola its Precinct houses scattered over the County's 200 square miles still occupied former private residences storefronts or other old buildings but this would change as time passed and as conditions required improvements today such structures as the second precin Station House in Woodbury expressed the County's determination to maintain modern Police Operations still as commissioner Frank has said while the Department's methods resources techniques and size have changed drastically in 50 years its service to the community displays the same high level of performance that it had from the beginning its officers continue to respond with equal dedication to the most serious disasters and accidents as they have to the most common everyday inquiries and request of the people of Nassau County their fundamental purpose remains as ever to protect and to Serve the People 24 hours a [Music] day as early as 1929 the department began formal training sessions and today all officers begin their careers at the police training center in minola as carefully selected recruits who undergo weeks of intensive studies and physical preparation in the words of a previous Police Commissioner John Beckman a cop is only as good as the training he receives and training applies not just to beginners even experienced officers take inservice courses and must regularly pass tests of a physical kind such as Marksmanship and driving this is is evoc the emergency vehicle operation course conducted at Mitchell [Music] field in the truest sense a police officer's training never ends because of the situations he faces no two crime scenes for example are ever the same and every officer understands the need for Specialists to photograph the sites and to gather fingerprints and physical evidence in this respect crime scene Personnel of the Nassau Police Department also serve the Village Police within the [Music] county the laboratory section of the Department's scientific investigation Bureau also offers an expertise of its own using such tools as thin layer and gas chromatography and infrared and UltraViolet analyses Nassau's police scientist can fingerprint the blood of individuals by electrophoretic separations in fact the individualization of microscopic bits of evidence is what makes them extremely valuable detectives for technical excellent the Nassau County Police Department takes special pride in its bomb squad which pioneered in devising new methods to contain the harmful effects of potential explosive devices it has a bomb disposal unit that is perhaps the most sophisticated of its type available in police operations 2 1 [Music] Z finally computer technology plays an important role Nassau County's Police Operations 2 and the department system can supply needed information to officers in the field within 90 seconds from a time of [Music] inquiry we will definitely look into it as we have shown you in this film The naso County Police Department has grown from 55 Deputy sheriffs to a course of nearly 4,000 officers proven in their professionalism and respected throughout the nation the things that have gone into the development and advancement of this department are much more than the hardware and technology which have been added over the years to our law enforcement muscle dedication desire a sense of service for and with the people of our County these are the things which make up the core of the Nassau County Police Department they were bred into the department 50 years ago and they continue today as living vital elements in our concept and ideals and providing the service with you the people want [Music] a