SandyMaloneNassau County, NY – The Nassau County Police Department sent out an intelligence bulletin warning their officers that MS-13 gang members are planning to shoot a cop on Long Island.
On Wednesday, the Hempstead Police Department (HPD) warned neighboring law enforcement agencies that it had received a credible threat through a reliable informant that MS-13 was “looking to shoot a cop in the Hempstead Area,” according to the officer awareness memo by NCPD.
Hempstead is a stronghold of the violent Salvadoran gang, the New York Post reported.
A copy of the NCPD memo has been widely distributed publicly on social media, advising that the informant told police that the Salvadoran gang thought police had been making too many arrests, and “it’s time to takes the streets back and take out (shoot) a cop like we do in El Salvador” to make a statement, according to the police memo.
Any member of the MS-13 was authorized by the gang to carry out the attack, the informant warned HPD.
Police were searching for a tall, thin, light-skinned Hispanic man with a tattoo of three dots next to his eye in connection with the threat.
“It is imperative that members of the department take these threats seriously and adapt their work habits and lifestyles accordingly,” the NCPD memo urged its officers.
The department provided a list of guidelines it said officers should adopt immediately, which included common sense steps like locking down privacy on social media and removing all references to law enforcement employment.
Officers were urged to conduct “counter surveillance techniques” when driving between work and home, and to vary their routes.
The memo also suggested officers try not to remain stationary while on the job, and that they should scan the entrances to police facilities carefully before entering.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) sent the NCPD briefing memo to all of its officers on April 18 because a large number of NYPD officers reside in Nassau County and commute into the city.