The
New York City Police Department (
NYPD or
NYCPD), officially the
City of New York Police Department, was established in 1845, and is the largest
municipal police force in the
United States,
[3] having primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five
boroughs of
New York City. The NYPD is one of the oldest police departments established in the United States; tracing its roots back to the first
Dutch eight man
night watch in 1625, when New York City was
New Amsterdam.
[4]
The NYPD has a broad array of specialized services, including the
Emergency Services Unit,
K-9, harbor patrol,
air support,
bomb disposal,
anti-terrorism,
criminal intelligence, anti-
gang,
narcotics, public transportation, even
public housing; The
New York City Transit Police and
New York City Housing Authority Police Department were fully integrated into the NYPD in 1995. According to the department, its mission is to "enforce the
laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear, and provide for a safe environment."
The NYPD Intelligence Division & Counter-Terrorism Bureau, headed by a former
CIA operative,
[5] has officers stationed in 11 foreign cities such as London, Paris, Madrid, Tel Aviv,
[6] Hamburg, and Toronto.
[7]
Members of the NYPD are frequently referred to by the nickname
New York's Finest. The NYPD is headquartered at
One Police Plaza, located on
Park Row in
Lower Manhattan across the street from
City Hall.
[8]
In June 2004, there were about 40,000 sworn officers plus several
thousand support staff; in June 2005, that number dropped to 35,000. As
of December 2011, it had increased to slightly over 36,600 with the
graduation of a class of 1,500 from the
New York City Police Academy. The NYPD's current authorized uniformed strength is 34,450.
[9] There are also approximately 4,500
Auxiliary Police Officers, 5,000
School Safety Agents, 2,300 Traffic Enforcement Agents, and 370 Traffic Enforcement Supervisors currently employed by the department.
In the 1990s the department developed a
CompStat system of management which has also entered use in other cities.
NYPD has extensive
crime scene investigation and laboratory resources, as well as units which assist with
computer crime
investigations. The NYPD runs an anticrime computer network,
essentially a large search engine and data warehouse operated by
detectives to assist officers in the field with their investigations.
[10] A Domain Awareness System, a joint project of
Microsoft and NYPD, links thousands of
closed-circuit television cameras,
license plate readers, and other surveillance devices into an integrated system.
[11]
