GOP-led Nassau County to deputize private citizens, Dems blast ‘militia initiative’

The Republican leader of a suburb bordering New York City has Democrats up in arms over a plan to deputize private citizens for emergency situations.

County Executive Bruce Blakeman has continued to irk opponents on the issues of crime and women’s rights as he seeks to wrestle control of the state capital and give his constituents a greater say in local policy.

Lawmakers opposing the plan are calling it a “militia,” drawing comparisons to Nazi “brownshirts” and held a rally outside the executive’s office calling on him to halt the proposal.

“I think it’s completely disgraceful, first of all as a Jewish elected official, to insinuate that I would be associated with anything that represented the Nazi regime, especially stormtroopers,” Blakeman told Fox News Digital. “It is absolutely reprehensible.”

While Democratic critics of the plan are alleging the provisional deputies could be used to quell Black Lives Matter or pro-Palestinian protests, Blakeman said all he’s done is create a database of potential volunteers to assist when county police are overwhelmed. 

“Its just left-wing, woke, progressive stuff,” Blakeman said. “They claim now that they like the police, but these are the same people who wanted to defund the police.”