The Organization of the New York City Police Department is structured into numerous bureaus and units. As a whole, the New York City Police Department is headed by the New York City Police Commissioner, a civilian administrator appointed by the Mayor of New York City, with the senior sworn uniformed member of the service titled "Chief of Department". The Police Commissioner appoints a number of Deputy and Assistant Commissioners. The Department is divided into nine bureaus, six of which are enforcement bureaus. Each enforcement bureau is sub-divided into sections, divisions, and units, and into patrol boroughs, precincts, and detective squads. Each Bureau is commanded by a Bureau Chief (such as the Chief of Patrol, the Chief of Housing, Chief of Internal Affairs). There are also a number of specialized units (such as the Operations Unit and Compstat) that are not part of any of the Bureaus and report to the Chief of the Department.
The following is the Department's hierarchy (with rank insignia):
For management purposes, police precincts are grouped collectively based on their jurisdiction into the patrol boroughs. There are eight patrol boroughs. They are: Manhattan North, Manhattan South, Brooklyn North, Brooklyn South, Queens North, Queens South, Bronx, and Staten Island. Each patrol borough has a number of police precincts and the grand total of police precincts in New York City is 76.
Each patrol borough is composed of precincts. Each precinct is responsible for safety and law enforcement within a designated geographic area. Police units based in these precincts patrol and respond to emergencies.
Staten Island currently has three precincts: the 120, 122, and 123. A 122 satellite precinct opened in December 2005 adjacent to the Staten Island Mall on Richmond Avenue. The department broke ground there in April 2009 for a new 121 precinct,[1] and plans to begin in 2014 a new building for the 120 precinct to replace the current building.[2]
Queens South began operating a satellite for the large 105 precinct in the southern part of the precinct next to the Rosedale LIRR station in July 2007. This building was, until then, the quarters for the Queens South Task Force, the Queens South Auto-Larceny Unit, the Queens South Anti-Crime Unit, the Queens South Evidence Collection Team and the Detective Bureau's Queens Major Case Squad.
Founded in 1928, it claims the distinction of being the oldest police aviation unit in the world, but there is a competing claim from the London Metropolitan Police Service ("The Met"). Based in Brooklyn, the Aviation Unit responds to various emergencies and tasks, supporting other units of the N.Y.P.D. Among its capabilities are the deployment of divers for water rescues. From a standing start, the unit claims it can be anywhere in the five boroughs within 15 minutes, but this has been disputed and is dependent on weather conditions and air traffic congestion.[3]
Since 9/11 the department has undertaken a major overhaul of the Aviation Unit. Once equipped exclusively with Bell helicopters, it recently re-equipped its fleet with seven Agusta A 119 Koala helicopters. The centerpiece is a $9.8 million "unmarked" helicopter, which can fly at night without lights. However, this function will require approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and local Air Traffic Control on a case-by-case basis, due to the hazards it could present in the heavily congested New York air corridors. The department has also purchased a state-of-the-art helicopter flight simulator, so officers can practice flying without actually having to take up a helicopter.[4] In 2011 the department said they had .50 caliber machine guns capable of shooting down light planes.[5]
Famed US cyclist Mile-a-Minute Murphy claimed to be the first police officer able to fly a plane in the US (possibly the entire world) as of 1914 as a member of the NYPD. He envisioned the use of airplanes to fight crime around the same time, though the Aviation Unit came into being 11 years after Murphy retired.
The Emergency Service Unit[1], a component of the Special Operations Division, provides specialized support and advanced equipment to other NYPD units.
Members of "ESU" are cross trained in multiple disciplines for police and rescue work. The ESU Canine Unit helps with searches for perpetrators and missing persons. The Emergency Service Unit also functions as a Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT) and NYPD hostage negotiators assist and secure the safety of hostages. The Emergency Services Unit works with other departments such as the FDNY with water rescues, suicide-jumpers, structural collapse rescues, and vehicle accidents. The ESU also has jet skis and numerous Zodiac inflatable rafts assigned to units throughout the precincts of NYC.
The Organized Crime Control Bureau (O.C.C.B.) is charged with the investigation and prevention of organized crime within New York City. This is mainly done through standard police investigation and the use of confidential informants. The Organized Crime Control Bureau has numerous units and sub-units that investigate matters such as organized auto larceny rings, unlawful firearms, and prostitution. The Organized Crime Control Bureau utilizes undercover police officers to infiltrate various criminal organizations. The Organized Crime Control Bureau has been effective against the Italian Mafia, "the westies" of the Irish mob, Chinese Mafia, East German Mafia, and Russian Mafia organized criminal elements. The Organized Crime Control Bureau's Joint Organized Crime Task Force works in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's New York Field Division (the largest FBI office in the US).
On March 15, 1858, five members of the New York City Police Department rowed out into New York Harbor to combat piracy aboard merchant ships lying at anchor. The NYPD Harbor Unit has existed ever since, protecting life and property. With hundreds of miles of inland waterways to cover, the unit operates 27 boats from three bases.[6]
For underwater work, the department used to contract with private diving companies when weapons or other evidence had to be recovered from the bottom of New York's many rivers and waterways. In the early 1970s, however, the Harbor Unit formed a specialized scuba team that today numbers around 30 officers. Unlike many police dive units, whose members dive only part-time, NYPD divers are assigned to the unit full-time. (The exception are some scuba-trained officers in regular patrol units who are detailed to the team temporarily during the busy summer months.)[7] In addition to the normal duties of evidence recovery, the Scuba Team's mission has expanded since 9/11 to include a counter-terrorism role. For air-sea rescue work, the Harbor Unit keeps two divers assigned to the Aviation Unit 24 hours a day, seven days per week, all year round. These divers will work with their counterparts in the FDNY, who arrive at incidents by fireboat or rescue company.
The Special Victims Division created in 2003 oversees all the borough Special Victims Squads. The Special Victims Division is part of the New York City Police Department Detective Bureau and investigates the following types of cases:
Additional sub-units of the Special Victims Division are listed below:
The television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit describes fictionalizations of some of the Special Victims Division's cases.
The Major Case Squad, which is a unit within the Special Investigation Division of the New York City Police Department Detective Bureau, is located at One Police Plaza in Manhattan. It handles the following cases.
Unlike the fictional Major Case Squad as depicted in Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the squad does not investigate homicides.
Anti-Crime is a unit that is located in all precincts, transit districts (TD), and housing police service areas (PSA). These officers perform patrol services work in their respective command. They are generally tasked differently than a typical uniformed patrol unit. Unlike uniformed patrol units whose main goal is to provide a visible presence in the streets in a effort to deter crime, Anti-Crime tries to avoid detection in an effort to spot criminals during criminal activity in order to arrest them. Anti-Crime, unlike patrol units, are not required to handle typical radio runs, such as accidents, disputes, and general policing calls that uniformed officers are called on for a majority of their jobs. Anti-Crime officers are typically tasked with finding felony suspects, such as those possessing weapons, or committing recurring crimes in the area. If a certain crime is spiking in an area, such as burglary, Anti-Crime officers will be tasked with finding those responsible, usually through following the suspects.
To find street criminals it is important for Anti-Crime officers to not be easily spotted. AC officers therefore typically (though not always) wear plainclothes that match the clothing common to the area. They will always patrol in unmarked vehicles, that cannot be identified at first glance. Some vehicles are simply street appearance editions of standard police vehicles such as the Ford Crown Victoria, Chevrolet Impala, and Ford Taurus. However, they can also use vehicles that are not typically vehicles used by law enforcement, including Honda Accords, Jeep Cherokees, and others. These officers sometimes work in uniform depending on the nature of their assignment.
In the past Anti-Crime functions were conducted by the city-wide Street Crimes Unit. However, after several bad shootings and the media notoriety gained from its reputation of aggressive tactics, it was disbanded and replaced by Anti-Crime units that serve the same purpose but fall under the command of the special operations lieutenants or captains in their respective precincts.
Located on the eighth floor of Police Headquarters, at One Police Plaza, the Real Time Crime Center is essentially a data warehouse and search engine operated by a staff of detectives that assists in providing relevant and timely information to officers conducting an investigation. The computer network stores facts about convicted persons, suspects, encounters, nicknames and items of seemingly trivial value whose correlation could assist in an investigation. The computer network's control room can display real-time satellite and surveillance camera images and hosts a wireless link to police vehicles equipped to generate sketches at crime scenes and transmit them for comparison to stored data.
The Task Forces are organized within each patrol borough and specialize in rapid mobilization for disorder control. The task forces can quickly respond to an incident location and mobilize to a precision suppression force to disperse disorderly groups and provide perimeter security. The task forces also assist other units in a variety of different elements such as in wide area searches for missing persons, DWI vehicle checkpoints, and supplemental patrol in high crime areas.
The Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) provides investigative technical equipment and tactical support to all bureaus within the department, in addition they also provide assistance to other City, State and Federal agencies. The unit also deals with several forms of computer forensics. The unit is based in NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza
Founded in 1966, the NYPD Movie/TV Unit was the first of its kind in the country. Because of its relationship with the NYPD, the unit has the greatest knowledge on how to assist productions, particularly with complex shooting situations, in a city that is dense with vehicular and pedestrian traffic. In addition to this expertise, their services are free to productions filming in the city.
Whether it conducts filming on bridges, highways, or busy intersections, the unit controls traffic to ensure that companies can get shots that may otherwise be impossible. In addition, the city's many police related shows, such as Law & Order and Third Watch, generate "crime scenes" which are supervised by the Movie/TV Unit. The unit's responsibilities do not end there; the unit also monitors child work permits, stunts, prop firearms, placement of equipment, pedestrian safety, and parking.
While filming on busy New York City streets presents countless challenges, the unit has, over the years, developed a strong working relationship with the film industry. The unit makes an effort to ensure that New York City remains a popular location for filming.
Until the election of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1994, the unit occasionally assisted with pornographic productions. But Giuliani put a stop to this as part of his effort to clean up the streets of New York City. In 1997, porn producer Michael Lucas filed a lawsuit against the Police Department and Giuliani citing discriminating practices used by the Movie / TV Unit against porn productions. The lawsuit was dropped in September 1998 when a district Judge granted a motion to dismiss on behalf of the NYPD.
The Crime Scene Unit (CSU) is a unit within the Forensic Investigations Division of the New York City Police Department Detective Bureau.
The Unit is responsible for forensic investigations of all homicides and sexual assaults, as well as other crimes as deemed necessary by an investigating supervisor. Members of the Crime Scene Unit assist the precinct detectives in the processing of a crime scene as well as determining the proper routing of evidence between the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the NYPD Police Lab and the NYPD Property Clerk.
The Crime Scene Unit is composed of NYPD detectives (or occasionally police officers that are awaiting their promotion to detective), not civilian technicians like crime scene units in other parts of the U.S. Generally these detectives come from an Evidence Collection Team which is operated at the borough level.
The Crime Scene Unit covers all of the boroughs of New York City, but is staffed with less than 1% of the total number of detectives in the NYPD. These detectives are dedicated to doing what is necessary to ensure that the precinct detectives and the District Attorney have as much evidence to identify the perpetrator of the crime and convict them at trial.
The Crime Scene Unit has at its disposal many tools to process a crime scene including the materials needed to develop fingerprints, cast footwear and tire impressions, follow the trajectory of bullets fired through windows and the chemicals necessary to observe blood under special lighting conditions that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. The unit is also trained to process a crime scene in a hazardous environment, for example following a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.
The NYPD Crime Scene Unit will handle in excess of 1,000 runs a year, a large drop from the busy days of the crack wars in the 1980s where 3,000 runs a year was common. Although there are fewer runs, each crime scene involves much more work these days. The common use of modern equipment unavailable previously, as well as the increase in computer generated case work and sketches means the amount of time spent on each individual case has drastically increased. The modern-era case load of 1,000 also takes into account the fact that the patrol borough based Evidence Collection Teams handle the vast majority of burglaries and robberies as well as assaults where the victim is not likely to die, leaving the Crime Scene Unit to focus on more serious incidents.
Recently the NYPD Crime Scene Unit has come under scrutiny by higher ranking members of the NYPD as well as the local press. Claims that the unit has incorrectly processed multiple high-profile cases have been leveled against the unit. Claims against the current Commanding Officer of the Crime Scene Unit Deputy Inspector Gary Gomula as well as the Executive Officer Michael Kletzel have been made citing their mismanagement of Detectives during major investigations has led to evidence being mishandled or missed completely.
A February 1, 2008 article in the NY Daily News leveled accusations that both Gomula and Kletzel have had the Police Commissioner's attention drawn to them after ballistic evidence was missed in investigations involving shot police officers. According to the article there was also concern about the recent spike in disciplinary issues in the unit. A former Crime Scene Investigator was quoted as saying "More panic management, the top people don't know what they are doing, so they panic and slap people for every little thing. A sign of trouble." The Police Commissioner is reported as being so concerned he has hired an outside expert to look into the practices of the unit.[9]
Another article in the NY Daily News on February 2, 2008 mentioned a lack of manpower and shortcuts demanded by D.I. Gomula led to cases being compromised again and again. The article mentions claims from sources that on the day of the Sean Bell shooting a rush to prepare charts and diagrams for a briefing led to ballistic evidence being overlooked. Ballistic evidence was later found by the Internal Affairs Bureau according to the article.[10]
In yet another story printed in the Daily News on March 3, 2008 a retired detective named Ira Scott claimed that he was injured in an incident while assigned to the Crime Scene Unit and that he was retaliated against by the supervisors in the unit for filing a claim for the injury. The article also states that at least four other detectives are considering filing charges that they were denied promotions or specialized training by the commanding officer or other supervisors. Detective Scott's lawyer Eric Sanders was quoted as saying "The collective managerial incompetence has led to the downfall of this elite unit." Claims were also made that the Commanding Officer Gary Gomula fired his service weapon during a training session, almost striking two detectives, and that he improperly removed a shotgun from a crime scene to show it in a press briefing before it was photographed in the scene, something that would violate most common practices for processing a crime scene.[11]
Most recently an article printed on March 4, 2008 in the Daily News attributed a major error in the handling of the crime scene involving the police shooting of Sean Bell to the Executive Officer Captain Michael Kletzel. The article claims that in a rush to try and find a firearm in the car belonging to Sean Bell, Captain Kletzel ordered members of the Crime Scene Unit to dismantle the vehicle's door before the scene was finished being processed. They claim that this was done in such a rushed and unorganized manner that the door's hinges were lost and replacements had to be purchased from a local junkyard. The door being removed becomes an issue according to the article because a reconstruction of the shooting was to be done at a later date and the removal of the door could alter the results. Assistant Chief Michael Collins stated that these accusations were a smear campaign against the supervisors in the unit by disgruntled unit members and that the door being removed was a non-issue and had no bearing on the investigation.[12]
The CSU is fictionally portrayed in the CBS TV drama CSI: NY.
The Evidence Collection Teams are tasked with the collection of evidence at crime scenes in their respective boroughs that are not determined to be at the level necessary to require the Crime Scene Unit. Each patrol borough (Manhattan South, Manhattan North, Bronx, Staten Island, Queens North, Queens South, Brooklyn North and Brooklyn South) has their own Evidence Collection Team under the control of the respective borough commander. The Evidence Collection Teams are staffed by Police Officers, Sergeants and usually headed by a Lieutenant.
The Evidence Collection Teams were started in Manhattan South by Lt. James Robert (Ret.) to take some of the pressure off the Crime Scene Unit and the precinct detective squads by forming a forensic unit to bridge the gap between precinct latent print officers and the Crime Scene Unit. The Evidence Collection Team processes crime scenes pertaining to burglaries, robberies, assaults where the victim is not likely to die, felonious larcenies and other crimes as directed by the duty Captain.
Many of the Police Officers that originally started in the Evidence Collection Team have gone on to transfer to the Crime Scene Unit and become Detectives. This transfer is difficult, due to the change from the Patrol Services Bureau to the Detective Bureau, as well as the fact that there are over 150 members of the various Evidence Collection Teams usually vying for one or two slots in Crime Scene.
Although Crime Scene is expected to handle many of the newsworthy or high-profile cases in the city quite often the Manhattan South Evidence Collection Team is called out to jobs in the Midtown Manhattan area that involve celebrities and wind up on the cover of national news papers. Recent examples of this include the shooting involving Remy Ma (the rapper) as well as the incident involving Sean "Puffy" Combs and Jennifer Lopez in December 1999. Here is a link to an evidence voucher prepared by a police officer in Manhattan South Evidence Voucher
The NYPD Transit Bureau is a separate branch of the NYPD that patrols and responds to emergencies within the New York City transit system. Its responsibility includes the NYC Subways in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. However, there are certain units that have citywide responsibilities such as the Homeless Outreach Unit and the Vandals Task Force.
The Transit Bureau is divided into Transit Borough Commands. These Borough Commands generally follow the boundaries of the City's geographical boroughs, although there are some notable exceptions. Since there are no subways on Staten Island, there are only four Transit Boroughs: Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Each Transit Borough is further divided into Transit Districts.
As a general rule, each Borough is commanded by an Inspector while Transit Districts tend to be commanded by Captains. The NYPD Detective Bureau investigates all crimes that occur in Transit. Each borough office has assigned detectives from the Detective Bureau similar to the Precinct Detective Squad. As of June 15, 2006 all detectives assigned to investigate transit crimes fall under a unified command [Central Robbery Section] of the Detective Bureau's Special Investigations Division.
The Housing Bureau is responsible for providing the security and delivery of police services to 420,000 residents, employees and guests of public housing (projects) throughout New York City. They are stationed in Police Service Areas (PSA), which are almost identical to police precincts, with nine PSAs in total located throughout the five boroughs. Officers often do vertical patrols, making sure illegal activity does not take place in the halls, stairways, or the roof.
The NYPD Mounted Unit was created in 1871 and is used today in the Patrol units. The unit has 112 human uniformed officers and supervisors and approximately 120 horse officers.
The Transportation Bureau's responsibilities include traffic enforcement, traffic management, and highway safety.
Special units within the New York City Police Department Transportation Bureau include the Highway Patrol, Traffic Management Center, Traffic Operations District, Citywide Traffic Task Force, Traffic Enforcement District and the Movie and TV Unit.
The New York City Police Department Highway Patrol is a specialized unit under the auspices of the NYPD's Transportation Bureau primarily responsible for patrolling and maintaining traffic safety on limited-access highways within New York City. The NYPD Highway Patrol's other duties and roles include accident investigations, advanced driver and radar training for NYPD officers, field sobriety testing, dignitary and parade escorts, hazardous material and truck traffic enforcement, anti-drag racing programs, and anti-terrorist checkpoints at key bridges and intersections in the city.
The Transportation Bureau also included the Transit Division from 1997 to 1999. That division was upgraded to bureau status, as it once had from 1995 to 1997 and again in 1999.
The NYPD has an unpaid, unarmed reserve police force known as the Auxiliary Police. NYPD Auxiliary Police officers complete a training course designated by the NYS Municipal Police Training Council as "part time peace officer" training course. In accordance with New York State law Auxiliary Police Officers are equipped with Police batons. They also carry Police radios and in accordance with NYC administrative code they carry handcuffs. They assist the Police Department with uniformed patrols and provide crowd and vehicular control at special events, accidents, and fire scenes.
The School Safety Division is the school police force for New York City Department of Education schools. The agency is a division of the New York City Police Department, and is one of the largest law enforcement agencies in New York City.
NYPD Traffic Enforcement has many duties including directing traffic, enforcing parking regulations, towing vehicles, providing highway assistance, and enforcing laws related to roadway construction. The men and women in Traffic Enforcement are referred to as Traffic Enforcement Agents (TEAs), and wear uniforms similar to the uniform worn by School Safety Agents. There are 4 levels for Traffic Enforcement Agents with each level handling different duties. Level one focuses on parking regulation enforcement, level two focuses on directing traffic, level three focuses on towing vehicles, and level four focuses on a variety of special duties, including specialized enforcement such as street construction or truck weight regulations. Only TEAs of level 4 status have peace officer powers, which allows them to carry handcuffs and make warrantless arrests. TEAs of Level 1–3 status have the authority to issue summonses for parking and moving violations, but no other authority. Older Traffic Enforcement vehicles are dark blue or black with white decals and newer vehicles are white with light blue decals.[13][14] TEAs wear badges that are oval with an eagle on top, in contrast to the shield worn by police officers and the seven point star worn by Auxiliary officers.
The New York City Police Department Cadet Corps is a form of internship with the New York City Police Department. The program is open to New York City residents who are enrolled in college and have completed 45 or more credits. Residents who have not yet completed a 45 credit requirement are able to join under certain circumstances.
The Paid Detail Unit is a program within the New York City Police Department allowing private corporations to hire NYPD police officers for security duties. The program has been used by various companies associated with Wall Street over the last several years and has recently come to prominence due to conflicts with the Occupy Wall Street group. Alarm has been raised at the potential conflict of interest.[15]
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