New York Police History

Fidelis ad Mortem ' A History of The New York Police

Since the declaration of Dutch independence in 1609 , the city of New York , the called New Amsterdam , had been a relatively large and sprawling municipality . As one might expect , the city had criminal elements in proportion to its population (Costello , 1885 ) Throughout its history , the entity that would become the New York Police Department has represented the leading edge in law enforcement , organization technology and civilian relations

By 1800 , having repaired the privations caused by the revolution of 1776 , the city

began to formalize its law enforcement procedures (Costello , 1885 ) In 1798 , the city established its first official police office . By 1800 , the city had four incarceration centers . Three of them were criminal jails and one was a debt prison (Costello , 1885 The institutions were the State Prison , the Penitentiary , Bridewell , and The Jail (Costello , 1885 ) The city had already been administratively divided into three districts . Because two of the districts were so large geographically , the Watch ' as they were called then , abandoned their traditional practice of standing at station , and began the first foot patrol in the history of New York law enforcement (Costello , 1885 ) By 1803 the number of patrolmen in each of the three districts fifty fifty-four and thirty-six . Each district was overseen by two captains of the watch , who were the administrative heads of the district (Costello 1885 ) This system , called the constabulary (as it was administered by constables ) lasted and grew until the formal establishment...