New York City Police Department

The **New York City Police Department** (**NYPD**), officially the **City of New York Police Department**, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, municipal police departments in the United States.

The NYPD is headquartered at 1 Police Plaza, located on Park Row in Lower Manhattan near City Hall. The NYPD's regulations are compiled in title 38 of the *New York City Rules*. The NYC Transit Police and NYC Housing Authority Police Department were fully integrated into the NYPD in 1995. Dedicated units of the NYPD include the Emergency Service Unit, K-9, harbor patrol, highway patrol, air support, bomb squad, counterterrorism, criminal intelligence, anti-organized crime, narcotics, mounted patrol, public transportation, and public housing units.

The NYPD employs over 50,000 people, including more than 35,000 uniformed officers. According to the official CompStat database, the NYPD responded to nearly 500,000 reports of crime and made over 200,000 arrests during 2019. In 2020, it had a budget of US$6 billion. However, the NYPD's actual spending often exceeds its budget.

The NYPD has a history of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct, which critics argue persists into the present day.

Due to its high-profile location in the largest city and media center in the U.S., fictionalized versions of the NYPD and its officers have frequently been portrayed in novels, radio, television, motion pictures, and video games.

## History[edit]

Main article: History of the New York City Police Department

The Municipal Police were established in 1845, replacing an old night watch system. Mayor William Havemeyer shepherded the NYPD together. In 1857, the force was replaced by the Metropolitan Police.

The NYPD appointed its first Black officer in 1911 and the first female officers in 1918.

In 1961, highly decorated NYPD officer Mario Biaggi, later a US Congressman, became the first police officer in New York State to be made a member of the National Police Officers Hall of Fame.

In the mid-1980s, NYPD began to police street-level drug markets much more intensively, leading to a sharp increase in incarceration.

In 1992, Mayor David Dinkins created an independent Civilian Complaint Review Board for the NYPD. In response to this, some NYPD officers violently protested and rioted. They blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, demonstrated at City Hall and shouted racial epithets. The protests were sponsored by the NYPD union.

In 1994 the NYPD developed the CompStat computer system for tracking crime geographically, which is now in use by other police departments in the United States and Canada. Research is mixed on whether CompStat had an impact on crime rates.

The New York City Transit Police and the New York City Housing Authority Police Department were merged into the NYPD in 1995.

In 2021, the NYPD ceased enforcement of marijuana crimes other than driving under the influence.

## Organization and structure[edit]

Main article: Organization of the New York City Police Department

The department is administered and governed by the police commissioner, who is appointed by the mayor. Technically, the Commissioner serves a five-year term; as a practical matter, they serve at the mayor's pleasure. The commissioner in turn appoints the first deputy commissioner and numerous deputy commissioners. By default, the commissioner and their subordinate deputies are civilians under an oath of office and are not sworn officers. However, a commissioner who comes up from the sworn ranks retains the status and statutory powers of a police officer while serving as commissioner. This affects their police pensions, and their ability to carry a firearm without a pistol permit. Some police commissioners carry a personal firearm, but they also have a full-time security detail.

Commissioners and deputy commissioners are administrators who specialize in areas of great importance to the Department, such as counterterrorism, support services, public information, legal matters, intelligence, and information technology. However, as civilian administrators, deputy commissioners are prohibited from taking operational control of a police situation (the commissioner and the first deputy commissioner may take control of these situations, however). Within the rank structure, there are also designations, known as "grades", that connote differences in duties, experience, and pay. However, supervisory functions are generally reserved for the rank of sergeant and above.

### Office of the Chief of Department[edit]

The Chief of Department serves as the senior sworn member of the NYPD. Jeffrey Maddrey, a longtime NYPD veteran, is the 43rd individual to hold the post. which prior to 1987 was known as the chief of operations and before that as chief inspector.