The New York City Police Academy is the
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
academy of the
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
(NYPD).
Within the
organization of the New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is structured into numerous bureaus and units. As a whole, the NYPD is headed by the Police Commissioner, a civilian administrator appointed by the Mayor, with the senior sworn uniformed officer o ...
, the Chief of Training oversees the Training Bureau, which includes the Police Academy, the
NYPD Cadet Corps
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the New York City, City of New York, the largest and one of ...
, and other units.
History
The old Police Academy opened in 1964 and was located at 235 East 20th Street in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
[David W. Dunlap]
$950 Million Police Academy Simulates the Mean Streets
''New York Times'' (March 16, 2016). in the
Gramercy Park area.
Within 25 years, however, the facility was regarded as antiquated and obsolete,
and no longer had capacity for larger classes of police trainees.
Diane Cardwell
Diane Cardwell is an African-American former business reporter for The New York Times focusing on renewable energy.
Early life
In an interview for ''BULLPEN'', a student-written webzine by NYU's Department of Journalism, Cardwell replied that sh ...
Police Academy to Move From Longtime Home in Gramercy Park to Queens
''New York Times'' (April 6, 2007). Jeremy Travis
Jeremy Travis (born July 31, 1948) is an American academic administrator who served as the fourth president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a senior college of the City University of New York, starting on August 16, 2004. On October 25, ...
(then the special counsel to the police commissioner, and years later the president of the
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts ...
) urged construction of a new facility in 1985.
In 1989,
Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
Edward I. Koch
Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayo ...
promised a new facility to be located in the
South Bronx, and in 1992, during the mayoralty of
David N. Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. He was the first African American to hold the office.
Before enteri ...
, architects were chosen and plans were released. However, Mayor
Rudolph W. Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1 ...
canceled the plans for a new facility.
In 2007, plans for a new police training center were revived under Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...
and Police Commissioner
Raymond W. Kelly
Raymond Walter Kelly (born September 4, 1941) is the longest serving Commissioner in the history of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the first man to hold the post for two non-consecutive tenures. According to its website, Kelly †...
, with the new facility to be located on a 35-acre tract in
College Point, Queens
College Point is a working-middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded to the south by Whitestone Expressway and Flushing; to the east by 138th Street and Malba/ Whitestone; to the north by the East River; an ...
, that previously housed a police tow parking lot
owned by the city.
Seven other locations, including the decommissioned
Flushing Airport, the
Seaview Hospital
Seaview Hospital was a historic tuberculosis sanatorium, now a national historic district located at Willowbrook on Staten Island, New York. The complex was planned and built between 1905 and 1938 and was the largest and most costly municipal fac ...
and
Farm Colony in
Staten Island, and
Floyd Bennett Field
Floyd Bennett Field is an airfield in the Marine Park neighborhood of southeast Brooklyn in New York City, along the shore of Jamaica Bay. The airport originally hosted commercial and general aviation traffic before being used as a naval air ...
in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, were considered before the College Point site was ultimately chosen.
Groundbreaking officially occurred in December 2009.
Phase One opened in December 2015.
After the NYPD moved its academy to Queens, the fate of the old academy building was initially unclear. In 2008 and 2013, local residents and
Manhattan Community Board 6
Manhattan Community Board 6 is a New York City community board, part of the local government apparatus of the city, with responsibility for the East Side of Manhattan from 14th Street to 59th Street. This includes the neighborhoods of Gramerc ...
pushed to convert the eight-story building into a public school. In October 2016, however, the NYPD opened its Candidate Assessment Center in the old building; the center recruits applicants to join the police department.
[Rocco Parascandola]
NYPD campaign wants new recruits to 'bring who you are,' stresses 'compassionate' policing
''New York Daily News'' (October 23, 2016).
Description
The new facility is located at 130-30 28th Avenue, was constructed at a cost of $950 million, and has three buildings with a combined 730,000 square feet of space.
It is not easily accessible by public transit; the closest
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
station,
Flushing–Main Street, is more than one mile away.
Perkins & Will
Perkins&Will is a global design practice founded in 1935. Since 1986, the group has been a subsidiary of Lebanon-based Dar Al-Handasah (Arabic: دار الهندسة). Phil Harrison has been the firm's CEO since 2006.
History
The firm was establ ...
Tactical Design and Michael Fieldman were the project's architects, and
Turner
Turner may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name
*One who uses a lathe for turni ...
and
STV were the
construction manager
Construction management (CM) is a professional service that uses specialized, project management techniques and software to oversee the planning, design, construction and closeout of a project. The purpose of Construction management is to control ...
s.
The three buildings at the academy are a classroom and office building (eight stories, with an atrium, cafeteria, auditorium, and library); a "physical and tactical training" building, including a large gymnasium and swimming pool; and a central utilities plant.
The training facilities include simulated locations, such as a mock subway station, mock courthouses, and mock
precinct houses.
The main police academy site does not include a
firing range
A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by militar ...
(the NYPD range is located at
Rodman's Neck
Rodman's Neck (formerly Ann Hook's Neck) refers to a peninsula of land in the New York City borough of the Bronx that juts out into Long Island Sound. The southern third of the peninsula is used as a firing range by the New York City Police Depar ...
in
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
),
nor is the facility used for driving instruction (NYPD officers train in driving at Floyd Bennett Field).
References
External links
Police Academy, College Point, Queens: Final Environmental Impact Statement
{{Coord, 40, 46, 19, N, 73, 50, 23, W, display=title
New York City Police Department
Police academies in the United States
Government buildings in Queens, New York
New York City Police Department buildings