Now that former Suffolk County police commissioner Richard Dormer has retired, the department's new top cop is announcing changes to tackle its highest-profile cases.
Suffolk Police Chief James Burke tells Newsday he will assign a special detective to a grand jury probe of painkiller prescriptions.
Burke said the detective, who's also a registered pharmacist, will assist the district attorney's special grand jury review of whether physicians have improperly prescribed painkillers.
The announcement comes after a deadly robbery of a pharmacy in Seaford on Saturday. An off-duty federal agent was mortally wounded while trying to intervene in the holdup.
It was the second deadly holdup in a pharmacy on Long Island in 2011.
The department also plans to convene an all-day meeting with investigators in the unsolved Gilgo Beach murders. It also will focus on reducing gang activity.
