Nassau County unveils new police ‘strategic response team’ to guard schools from shootings

Just one week before most Long Island students head back to class — and just moments after a tragic school shooting in Minneapolis — Nassau County announced new resources to protect children.

Nassau Executive Bruce Blakeman alongside the county’s top cop Patrick Ryder unveiled the creation of a new “strategic response team” that will be first deployed next week to all public and private schools within the municipality’s borders as students return to class.

The new 40-person team will blanket all of Nassau’s 450 public schools along with religious education buildings, private academies, charters, and even colleges starting on Tuesday, when most students in Nassau return. 

As part of the plan, cops will now visit each school every day during the start of the school year and patrol the grounds, meet with principals and familiarize themselves with the layout before an emergency ever happens.

“With the start of the school year, we are devoting more assets to the safety of our communities — especially our schools,” Blakeman told reporters outside of the NCPD training and intelligence center in Garden City.

He also explained that the procedure to address a possible school shooting scenario has completely changed from a more patient and tactical approach to the first officer on scene jumping into immediate action without waiting for back up to neutralize any threat as fast as possible. 

This new policy gives cops the ability to storm a building the moment they arrive with each car now being equipped with ballistic vests, helmets, breaching tools and medical kits. 

“In Nassau County, the first cop there goes in. We don’t wait,” Ryder said, referencing mass shootings across the country where delays proved deadly. “We neutralize the threat and then we go back for those who need aid.”

On top of a larger police presence, every school both public and private, now has access to the county’s Rave app, which allows administrators to bypass 911 and summon police in seconds with just a few taps.

School leaders, like Marie Testa, the president of the Nassau Council of School Superintendents, praised the added protection and the close working relationship with police.

“The fact that the county and the commissioner continue to enhance security efforts is something that school leaders completely respect, appreciate, and admire,” she told reporters outside the training facility.

While the program is launching with schools at the forefront, Blakeman and Ryder both stressed the team won’t be confined to classrooms, and once the school year is underway, the unit could be deployed into high-crime neighborhoods to patrol streets and provide extra muscle where intelligence shows it’s needed.

Officials said the squad will also be tapped for everything from county events and concerts, to protests, places experiencing “crime sprees,” and even areas known for illegal street races.

Along with boots on the ground, the squad will also receive regular intelligence briefings, and have aerial support in drones that will be deployed to patrol neighborhoods, monitor crowds, and provide real-time intelligence to the officers on the scene.

“This new strategic response team will have the flexibility to go where they are needed,” Blakeman said. “Whether it’s a school event, a concert, a protest, or a rash of car break-ins — these officers will be there.”