Democratic Nassau lawmakers sue County Executive Blakeman, Sheriff LaRocco over special deputy sheriffs program
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, calls on a judge to declare the program illegal and prevent the county from using taxpayer money to fund it.
A pair of Democratic Nassau County lawmakers are suing Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and county Sheriff Anthony LaRocco to put an end to their special deputy program.
Legislators Debra Mulé and Scott Davis said the county is violating general municipal law, which prevents the county from using public funds and resources to deputize private citizens as provisional sheriff's deputies. They also claim the county has stonewalled information from lawmakers by refusing to comply with Freedom of Information Law requests.
"The county is not allowed to hand badges to private citizens, pronounce them to be members of law enforcement and authorize them to wield force on behalf of the government," part of the lawsuit reads.
Last March, Blakeman and LaRocco announced the program, which opponents have dubbed their private militia, to screen and train armed Nassau residents that the county could call on to assist police during an emergency declaration.
The county swore in the first group of two dozen members last December.
The lawsuit claims the county not only lacks the power to create such a program but cannot allocate taxpayer money without first obtaining legislature approval.
"There is no oversight, there is not accountability, there are no clear guidelines," Davis said. "We don't know who is armed, when and where and how they'll be deployed and the only person who can deploy them is the county executive."
On Tuesday, Blakeman held a press conference designating 10 county detectives to carry out immigration enforcement alongside federal law enforcement partners. News 12 Long Island's Krista McNally asked Blakeman whether he could declare an immigration emergency to activate the deputies to also carry out immigration enforcement.
"Stop with the special agents they have nothing to do with this," Blakeman said in response.
Legislator Seth Koslow said despite what Blakeman said he and other Democrats on the legslature do worry that's what he'll do.
“There is concern that he might try to use this militia as a deportation force to get people out of the county because he’s using it however he sees fit and we don’t know what he intends to do," Koslow said.
News 12 reached out to Blakeman's office for a comment on the lawsuit but has not heard back at this time.
