Nassau tops ‘safest county’ rankings, but Blakeman’s claim is misleading.

Bruce Blakeman, a Long Island Republican running for governor, said his actions as Nassau County executive have "made" Nassau County the safest county in America. 

In a recent Instagram post, Blakeman wrote, "As Nassau County Executive, I hired 600 new law enforcement officers and made Nassau the safest county in America." His website says he "turned Nassau County into the #1 safest county in America." Blakeman has touted what he calls his "no-nonsense" approach to fighting crime in his  statewide campaign to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Blakeman, who defeated Democratic incumbent Laura Curran in 2021 and assumed office in 2022, bases his "safest county" claim on a U.S. News and World Report designation. The media outlet periodically publishes a list ranking counties on crime, injuries and public safety capacity. Nassau County, home to 1.4 million people, was named the safest county in 2022 and 2024, during his tenure. 

But it was also named the safest county under Curran in 2020 and 2021. 

We checked Blakeman’s claim that he hired 600 new "law enforcement officers." 

Blakeman’s spokesperson provided PolitiFact with a list of 638 new hires across seven job titles during Blakeman’s tenure in the police, corrections, probation, and fire departments. They include: 396 police officers, 178 correction officers, 16 deputy sheriffs, 24 fire marshals and marshal trainees, and 24 probation officers and trainees. 

We asked whether the new employees replaced retirees but did not receive a response.

The Nassau County comptroller keeps records of each filled position, through 2025. Between 2021 and 2025, the records show increases in total department employment in  police (111 positions), fire (40 positions), corrections (110 positions), and probation (34 positions), for a total of 295 new positions. But from 2022, Blakeman's first year, to 2025, there’s a loss of 396 positions in the police department and a loss of five positions in corrections.   

There is no evidence of 600 new "law enforcement officers." 

The number of jobs in some categories went up, but fell in others, according to the data, which does not include hires in 2026. The number of police officers decreased overall. There were 1,937 police officers in 2021. The number increased to 2,193 in 2022, but fell to 1,932 in 2025. The number of police detectives and sergeants increased by five and 15, respectively from 2021. But the number of police lieutenants and sergeant-detectives decreased by 19 and six, respectively. There were 34 more corrections officers and 26 more corrections corporals. There were also 11 more deputy sheriffs in 2025 than in 2021. 

To give this claim context, we looked at crime statistics in Nassau County. There are seven index crimes: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. The rate of index crimes increased by 28% from 2021, just before Blakeman took office, to 2024, according to the most recent data available.

The rate of violent crimes went up by 18% since 2021, and the rate of property crimes increased by 29%. Since 2022, the murder rate has steadily increased, while the murder rate statewide has decreased. Still, Nassau’s murder rate in 2024 was one-third the rate of the entire state. The rate of all index crime in Nassau has fallen by 13% between 2022, Blakeman’s first year in office, and 2024, while the rate of all violent crime has remained flat. Historic fluctuations in the rate for all index crimes Nassau are similar to fluctuations statewide. However, statewide rates are higher, and since 2022, the statewide rate has fallen by just .6%, much less than Nassau's drop of 13%. 

Our ruling

If Blakeman had said he kept Nassau County the "safest county" in America, or that he hired 638 additional law enforcement officers, the ruling would be favorable toward him.

But that is not what he said as he presses his case on the campaign trail.

His office claims 638 new hires in public safety, but many appear to be filling positions of people who left or retired. 

And the county employs fewer police officers than when he took office, according to 2025 data.

Indeed, Nassau County earned the "safest county" designation under Blakeman’s watch. But Nassau County had that designation in the two years before he took office, so his predecessor had those bragging rights, too. 

His statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate this claim Mostly False. 

St. Bonaventure University students Conor Amendola and Ryan Lombardi contributed to this report.