This Trumpy Long Island Politician Plans to Deputize Armed Civilians

A Republican politician on Long Island—who just last week held an umbrella over former President Donald Trump’s head at the wake for a slain New York City police officer—has come under fire over a controversial plan to organize what critics contend is essentially a “personal militia.”

“This is open season to kill,” Barbara Powell, the president of Hempstead’s NAACP branch, declared on Tuesday at a rally protesting Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s plan, which involves the creation of a list of deputized, armed civilians that can be deployed during emergencies.

The plan has been slammed by residents and Democratic legislators as potentially dangerous and a threat to local police authority.

In March, Blakeman and Nassau County Sheriff Anthony LaRocco put an ad on the county’s website for residents to apply to be “Provisional Emergency Special Deputy Sheriffs.” According to the ad, the deputized civilians must be “skilled in the use of firearms,” and “within 45 days of appointment must be trained and qualified on service weapon and complete basic training at the Academy in the NYS Penal law and Use of Force.” They’ll receive a $150 stipend for every day on duty, it says.

According to Newsday, Blakeman says at least 25 former law enforcement and military veterans are undergoing refresher courses and will be ready to serve as deputized civilians in 30 days. Roughly 100 residents applied to be a part of the program before the March 31 deadline.

Blakeman and Sheriff LaRocco tout the legality of their plan by citing New York State County Law 655, which states, “For the protection of human life and property during an emergency, the sheriff may deputize orally or in writing such number of additional special deputies as he deems necessary.”

However, the plan has been deemed dangerous by Nassau County residents and legislators who rallied against Blakeman outside of the Nassau County Legislature on Tuesday in Mineola, New York.

They likened the special sheriff’s deputies to a personal militia for Blakeman, noting that it remains unclear how they would work with the already sizable Nassau County Police Department. And there remain open questions about who the deputized civilians would answer to, how they would be held accountable, and how the county would bear the liability of the special force.

Nassau County already has roughly 2,500 police officers, and the National Guard has previously stepped in to assist during emergencies like Hurricane Sandy. Critics point out that Nassau County—which just a couple of years ago was deemed the safest community in America by U.S. News and World Report—enjoys an exceedingly low crime rate.

The grounds for which Blakeman would declare a “state of emergency” are unclear. PIX11 asked Blakeman if he’d consider a protest grounds to declare a state of emergency, to which he responded, “So far our police have been able to handle any protest. But if there was a riot I would consider it, especially at the level they were burning buildings.”

Some have accused the county executive of being more interested in another “culture war” than safely governing residents.

“I think he’s really out of step with the culture of Nassau County, and that’s why the legislators haven’t heard any positive feedback about this idea. It’s really out of step. It’s not governing, it’s performance,” said Kim Keiserman, a Democratic candidate for New York state Senate.

Blakeman’s office has yet to respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast.

In late February, Blakeman signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sporting events in Nassau County facilities. That executive order, believed to be one of the first county-wide bans on transgender athletes in school sports, has already prompted legal back-and-forth between Blakeman and Attorney General Letitia James.

Blakeman has shown a willingness to “lean in on the MAGA conformative culture wars,” Keiserman said, but some residents were still shocked by the boldness of his “militia” plan.

Sabine Margolis, who started the Change.org petition “Stop Bruce Blakeman’s Personal Nassau County Militia,” which has received over 1,400 signatures, said she had “chills down [her] spine” when she heard about it.

Margolis described civilian deputies as “getting in the way of who truly is supporting us, the police, the National Guard and FEMA.”

“What is he doing all day other than picking the bright and shiny culture war topic?” Margolis continued.

His detractors also fear the plan will protect some while endangering others—namely residents of color in Nassau County.

Queens organizer Lucy Zentgraf, who attended Tuesday’s rally, pointed to the Brownshirts in Nazi Germany.

“I believe that historically, arming and deputizing large groups of people has always been a form of fascistic violence,” she said.

Blakeman, who is Jewish, has called the Nazi analogy deeply offensive and held a press conference last week at the Holocaust Museum in Glen Clove to call out one of his critics—Delia Deriggi-Whitton, the minority leader of the Nassau County legislature—who had mentioned in a local news report that her residents were making Holocaust comparisons.

“She has no right to be a public officer and a public servant in this county… She should go away. She should resign,” Blakeman insisted at the press conference.

Nassau County Legislator Carrié Solages (D–Valley Stream) said she’d spoken with parents of children of color who were fearful following the announcement of Blakeman’s plan.

“God forbid a young man wearing a hood is out about minding [their] business during this so-called ‘state of emergency’ and god forbid an overzealous, George Zimmerman type of person thinks that young man is a danger… that would cause our entire county and our nation to be set back in terms of race relations,” Solages said.

Blakeman isn’t the only politician devising ways to deputize civilians. In 2023, Texas Republicans pushed for legislation that would allow civilians to be deputized to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants. Gov. Ron DeSantis also visited Eagle Pass, Texas, last year to announce an immigration platform that focused on deputizing state and local governments to enforce immigration laws.

Blakeman was elected as Nassau County legislator in November 2021, defeating Democratic incumbent Laura Curran by less than 2 percent. He ran on a platform of lowering taxes and clamping down on bail reform and immigration. He also instated a program called “Operation Overwatch,” which put more police officers on the streets of Nassau County in response to what Blakeman described as a rise in crime and violence on a local and national scale.

“This is another disturbing example of our county executive veering so far out of his lane by devoting his attention on issues that don’t exist and aren’t likely to exist instead of concentrating on his job and addressing the problems the residents of Nassau County are experiencing every day,” said Nassau County Legislator Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview) to Tuesday’s crowd.