Police: Order Maintained Throughout Gas Shortage

A gas shortage following a hurricane could have been a crisis. Instead, Nassau County's police and its citizens managed, for the most part, to keep good order.

"They were good," said a police spokesman concerning residents' attentiveness to rationing and their treatment of each other. "People paid attention to the odd/even days."

Police did respond to a number of calls at gas stations where arguments ensued over people cutting long lines or other issues, but no arrests were made, the spokesman said.

Nassau Police serviced several locations along major roads, and were present mainly for traffic control as some lines stretched for more than a mile along busy thoroughfares.

Sgt. John Nagle of the Glen Cove Police Department said local stations would call when gas deliveries were to arrive, and three officers would be assigned to a station. Barricades were set up to prevent cars from blocking entrances and exits and separate lines were established for gas cans only.

Many residents waited on lines for four or five hours at a time, but almost all were orderly and no major problems were reported. Traffic flows were eased once the rationing was implemented, Nagle said.

He said the general consensus among Glen Cove's officers was that most residents were relieved to have police on the scene.

"One resident stated that she was happy to see the Police controlling the lines here in Glen Cove," said Nagle. "She said some of the stations out of town did not have a police presence and she didn’t feel safe waiting on those lines."