Nassau County is enlisting ex-cops and detectives as particular investigators to look into youngster abuse circumstances in an effort to assist out the overwhelmed Division of Social Providers, officers stated.
4 new investigators, together with a former police detective and parole officer, are becoming a member of the ranks of a first-in-New York program that County Government Bruce Blakeman launched in 2023 to fast-track the native wants of Baby Protecting Providers.
Blakeman stated throughout a latest press convention that the objective is to “assist scale back the caseload” for CPS staff, who’re inundated with “a voluminous quantity.”
“It’s incumbent upon us to verify these youngsters are secure. That’s job No. 1,” he added, calling their duty “God’s work.”
This system’s different members, who got expedited six-week coaching to assist caseworkers by probing household conditions, embody each detectives and hearth marshals, along with extra police, parole and corrections officers.
Their background checks are additionally accelerated in comparison with what Blakeman stated often takes as much as a yr.
Nassau noticed a 25% dip in DSS circumstances between 2023 and 2024 in a distinction of 1,077 vs. 805, he added.
In 2024, the quantity of overdue investigations “decreased considerably” from 29.7% to 19.75%, and 33.3% of staff managed 15 or fewer circumstances in comparison with 20.5% the yr prior.
The subsequent milestone is having case staff deal with 12 at a time, a extra affordable “commonplace” workload, based on the manager.
“The underside line is we need to hold that quantity as little as doable.”
Blakeman introduced the brand new additions simply earlier than the fifth anniversary of the loss of life of 8-year-old Thomas Valva on Jan. 17, 2020.
The autistic Middle Moriches boy died of hypothermia after he was pressured to sleep in a frigid storage by his disgraced NYPD father, Michael Valva. The little boy’s 10-year-old brother, Anthony, was additionally pressured into the freezing house however survived.
In April, Suffolk County District Lawyer Ray Tierney launched a scathing report claiming CPS uncared for blatant warning indicators that would have saved Michael’s life.
“One of many actually troubling issues was that there had been an amazing variety of academics and people who reported this to CPS,” Blakeman stated. “Alarms and whistles ought to have gone off.”
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