Police Department’s Custodians and Laborers Go Above and Beyond

(L-R) Andy Artino, Frank DePalma, Jake Heath, Debra Imperatore, Mike Ratti, Frank Allotta, Kenneth Doyno, Jeff Liebling

MINEOLA- The Nassau County Police Department Headquarters, and precincts throughout Nassau County are often lauded as very clean and top of the line buildings, with police department events always being well equipped and organized.

These things would not be possible without the hard work of 32 employees of the Nassau County Police Department Laborers and Custodial Staff who represent the CSEA Local 830 so well.  Out of the 32 employees, 9 of them work out of Police Headquarters in Mineola, and the other 23 are spread about between the 8 precincts throughout the county.

Mike Ratti and Jake Heath are the Laborer Supervisors at headquarters, and oversee a myriad of different responsibilities that his crew must take care of on a daily basis.  They range from the normal plumbing, electrical, and landscaping, to the mundane of cleaning holding cells.  Events and press conferences that go on involving the Police Commissioner, and County Executive, are prepared for by the crew, as far as catering, and towing the Canteen Trailer to provide food at the events.

Andy Artino works the forklift

What most might not realize is the importance of their job, as these workers are subject to confidential material and different work environments not found outside the Police Department.  That includes classified documents, confiscated drugs, loaded firearms, various biological hazards and prisoners.  They also work side by side police officers on a daily basis.

The crew also remains flexible while being deployed to the Emergency Ambulance Bureau, Crimes Against Property Squad in Westbury, and Safety Town at Eisenhower Park.

Despite all this, the County Executive has proposed an idea to merge these workers into the Department of Public Works, which CSEA is against. 

The decision to go along with this merge would cause some issues such as the “Flex Time” agreement that was instituted 4 years ago.  These Police Department employees were also screened, drug tested, interviewed, and given security clearance for that specific position.  “This is an issue we believe would need to be negotiated,” Laricchiuta said.  A letter from the staff to the County Executive and Police Commissioner said, “We want our jobs that we applied for.”

Between the 9 man crew at headquarters, there is collectively nearly 200 years of experience, most of those years spent together, which speaks to the great camaraderie between themselves, and the officers.  CSEA Police Unit President Debra Imperatore has been around this crew for 17 years, and said, “they are one of the most cohesive and unified group of guys I have ever been around.”