Online Suffolk domestic violence registry bill fails
February 2, 2010 By REID J. EPSTEIN reid.epstein@newsday.com
There will be no online domestic violence registry after Suffolk legislators Tuesday sustained County Executive Steve Levy‘s veto of the bill creating one.
The bill’s sponsor, Legis. DuWayne Gregory (D-Amityville), mustered only seven of the 12 votes needed to override Levy’s veto. The bill to create the registry had passed, on a 14-3 vote, Nov. 17. Gregory blamed the evaporation of the bill’s support on political pressure from Levy’s office.
“It was unfortunate that we’re in that sort of environment where politics trumps good government policy,” Gregory said.
But Levy aide Ben Zwirn told lawmakers that nonprofit groups that aid domestic violence victims were unified in their opposition to creating the online database. Victims, Zwirn said, would be less likely to call police if they feared their attackers’ names would wind up on the Internet.
“This is about identifying children who have the same last name as somebody who has abused them,” he said. “To say that this is political is offensive.”
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