They’re true blue.
Lengthy Island’s oldest police pressure, the Hempstead Village PD, is celebrating 150 years of retaining Nassau County streets protected — after coping with a long time of hardcore crime, gang beefs and a staggering inflow of medicine.
“We’ve met each problem, whether or not it was heroin distribution within the 60s, throughout the crack epidemic from round 1985 to the mid-90s,” Hempstead Village Police Chief Richard Holland informed The Submit.
“Luckily, we haven’t had the serial killer type of factor,” he joked, referring to the Gilgo Seashore murders over in Suffolk County.
The Hempstead Village Police Division was shaped in 1875 after practically 20 years of civilians volunteering to patrol their very own streets.
However the pressure started seeing most of its grittiest motion begin about half a century in the past, in response to the village brass.
Mayor Waylyn Hobbs, who used to work in code enforcement within the Eighties, had personally seen how tough issues have been on the time.
“I do know that there was an enormous drug-related arrest; so huge that they rounded up so many individuals that that they had to make use of Kennedy Park for processing,” he mentioned of the world that spaciously suits a soccer discipline, pool and tennis courts.
“One of many huge issues then additionally was prostitution,” Hobbs added of the crime that has since slowed down. “The police division used to have undercover feminine officers to catch the Johns.”
Gang violence was additionally a recurring concern, notably round 2005, when a violent uptick in beef between the Bloods and Crips resulted within the arrest of practically 15 gang members on each side.
The incident had the Hempstead PD evolve its policing technique, forming partnerships with the feds — together with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI’s gangs taskforce and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — to sort out severe crime, Holland mentioned.
Interagency teamwork additionally yielded main narcotics busts in present occasions — such because the arrest of drug ring operating resident Darren Devane in 2019.
Hempstead PD, together with the FBI ATF, and Nassau County legislation enforcement seized about 400,000 grams of fentanyl — estimated to trigger probably 150,000 overdoses — from the Bloods gang member after a months-long operation.
“It was the most important fentanyl seizure on Lengthy Island on the time,” Holland mentioned of the bust, that resulted in Devane being sentenced to 22 years behind bars in 2023.
Rising policing applied sciences, comparable to a newly deployed drone, are additionally getting used to maintain locals protected these days.
“We had successful story with it simply final week. We knew the person, we noticed the person threw away a gun. We couldn’t monitor him down, however we have been capable of finding him with the drone,” Holland mentioned.
“We’re really being proactive now with our drone, going to our [crime] hotspots,” he added.
That, and the latest restoration of a K9 unit, are among the causes Holland credit a year-to-date 34% drop in robberies — and likewise why Hempstead Village has solely had one annual gun-related murder previously three years.
“That’s been a document for us,” the chief mentioned.
Hobbs lauded the division’s 125 officers for making a distinction in heroic methods — even ones that don’t all the time make headlines, comparable to a gun arrest he talked about passed off at a neighborhood residence in July.
“Anyone inside the home pointed a gun within the face of our detectives. He was in a position to disarm them with out taking pictures them,” the mayor mentioned.
“I feel that’s wonderful that they confirmed restraint, bought two weapons off the road, and had no person get damage — together with our officers.”
