The New York State Police (NYSP) is the
state police
State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...
of the
state of New York
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is part of the
New York State Executive Department
The New York State Executive Department is the department of the New York state government that serves as the administrative department of the Governor of New York. This department has no central operating structure; it consists of a number of d ...
, and employs over 5,000 sworn state troopers and 711 civilian members.
History
![Maj](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Maj._Geo._F._Chandler.jpg)
The State of New York did not establish a state police force until the early twentieth century. In part this reflected the pattern of settlement across a wide frontier. A number of proposals to create such a force during the early 1900s, but faced considerable opposition from
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
interests. They feared the police would be used against union organizing, as was happening in several other states.
Following the 1913 murder of Sam Howell, a construction foreman in Westchester County, and failure of the local police to arrest suspects he had named before his death, the
New York State Legislature
The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...
passed a bill to establish a state police force. The New York State Police was officially established on April 11, 1917.
The division's first superintendent was
George Fletcher Chandler, who was appointed by Governor
Charles S. Whitman
Charles Seymour Whitman (September 29, 1868March 29, 1947) was an American lawyer who served as the 41st Governor of New York from January 1, 1915, to December 31, 1918. An attorney and politician, he also served as a delegate from New York to t ...
. Chandler is credited with much of the division's early organization and development. Chandler coined the term "New York State Troopers." He was an early advocate of officers carrying their weapons exposed on a belt, which was not common practice at the time.
On January 1, 1980, the
Long Island State Parkway Police
The Long Island State Parkway Police is a defunct New York State law enforcement agency that once patrolled state parks and parkways on Long Island, New York.
History
After the New York State Park Commission was first created in 1902, New Yo ...
merged with the state police; this resulted in the official establishment of Troop L. In October 1997, the New York State Capital Police was consolidated and absorbed into the state police.
Since February 1994, the agency has accepted
DNA evidence for forensic investigation and analysis. The New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center (FIC) opened in November 1996. The Crime Laboratory performs DNA analysis for state investigations and for local law enforcement. It includes a new DNA Data Bank Section that compiles DNA records from violent felons sentenced to prison in New York State. These records can be searched and compared by computer to other evidence collected in unsolved crimes.
Troopers, NY
In December 2019, Governor
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
announced that the New York State Park Police was to be merged with the New York State Police. The merger was expected to take about six months. However, in January 2022, New York officials announced that the two police forces would remain separate.
Since the establishment of the New York State Police, 140 troopers have died while on duty.
Structure and organization
![NY-SP Chevy Tahoe on MVA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/NY-SP_Chevy_Tahoe_on_MVA.jpg)
The NYSP divides New York state geographically into eleven "Troops," each comprising a specific geographic area, usually several counties. Each is supervised by a "Troop Commander" usually of the rank of Major. NYSP Troops cover the following counties and regions as listed:
Each Troop encompasses 2–4 "Zones" which are referred to simply by a Zone number. There are up to several "sub-stations" located within each zone.
Uniforms
Trooper uniforms are made of grey wool, with the exception of the
Gore-Tex
Gore-Tex is a waterproof, breathable fabric membrane and registered trademark of W. L. Gore & Associates. Invented in 1969, Gore-Tex can repel liquid water while allowing water vapor to pass through and is designed to be a lightweight, waterpr ...
jacket. Prior to 1958, uniforms (shirts, jackets and britches) were woven of equal parts white fiber and black fiber to symbolize the impartiality of justice. The NYSP do not wear a badge on their uniform shirts.
Equipment
As of January 2018, New York State Troopers are issued the
Glock 21
Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was the ...
Gen 4
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...
handgun as their
service pistol
A service pistol, also known as a personal weapon or an ordnance weapon, is any handgun issued to regular military personnel or law enforcement officers. Typically, service pistols are revolvers or semi-automatic pistols issued to Officer (armed ...
. New York State Troopers previously used the
Glock 37
Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was th ...
.45 GAP
The .45 GAP (Glock Auto Pistol) or .45 Glock (11.43×19mm) is a pistol cartridge designed by Ernest Durham, an engineer with CCI/Speer, at the request of firearms manufacturer Glock to provide a cartridge that would equal the power of the ...
handgun from 2007 to 2018. The New York State Police used the
Glock 17
Glock is a brand of polymer-Receiver (firearms), framed, Recoil operation#Short recoil operation, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H., Glock Ges.m.b.H. The ...
9mm handgun from 1990 to 2007, the Glock 17 replaced the
Smith & Wesson Model 686 (NYSP issued the Model 681).
New York State Police to Purchase New Glock Pistol
/ref>
The New York State Police is one of only five state police agencies in the United States that, as of 2019, does not equip its state police vehicles with dashboard cameras. New York State Troopers starting on April 5, 2021 have started receiving body-worn cameras.
Aviation
The New York State Police has three Bell 407
The Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter. A derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, the 407 uses the four-blade, soft-in-plane design rotor with composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa Wa ...
single engine utility helicopters, six Bell 430
The Bell 430 is an American/Canadian twin-engine light-medium helicopter built by Bell Helicopter. It is a stretched and more powerful development of the Bell 230, which, in turn, was based on the earlier Bell 222.
Development
While developing ...
twin engine helicopters, three Bell UH-1
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helic ...
“HUEY 2” Single engine utility helicopters and one UH-1H
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois military helicopter, first introduced in 1959, is the first production member of the prolific Huey family of helicopters, and was itself developed in over twenty variants, which are listed below.
XH-40 and YH-40
The firs ...
“HUEY 1” Single engine utility helicopter. Their other aircraft are two Cessna 206
The Cessna 205, 206, and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane) are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...
Stationair Single engine airplanes, one Cessna 172
The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company. Single engine airplane, one Partenavia
Partenavia Construzioni Aeronautiche was an Italian aircraft manufacturer that specialised in general aviation.
The company operated between 1957 and 1998. Founded by Professor Luigi Pascale, Partenavia became a limited company in 1959, and was a ...
68 Twin engine observation airplane, one Sikorsky S-76
The Sikorsky S-76 is a medium-size commercial utility helicopter designed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. It is the company's first helicopter specifically developed for the civilian market.
The S-76 w ...
(used for transporting the governor), and two Beech King Air
The Beechcraft King Air is a line of American utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families. The Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s ...
twin engine turboprop airplanes. All of these aircraft operate under the call sign “GrayRider”.
See also
*New York State Police Troop C scandal
The New York State Police Troop C scandal involved the fabrication of evidence by members of the New York State Police, which was used to convict suspects in Central New York.
John Spencer
Trooper Craig D. Harvey was charged with fabricating evi ...
* List of law enforcement agencies in New York
there were 514 law enforcement agencies in New York State employing 66,472 Police Officers, some agencies employ Peace / Special Officers. (about 341 for each 100,000 residents) according to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics' ''Census of Stat ...
*New York State University Police
The New York State University Police (NYSUP) is the law enforcement agency of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Approximately 600 uniformed officers and investigators, as well as sixty-four chiefs, serve the 29 state college and u ...
* State Police (United States)
*Highway Patrol
A highway patrol, or state patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is prima ...
Notes
References
External links
New York State Police website
In-depth NYSP history
New York State Police
in the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
The ''New York Codes, Rules and Regulations'' (NYCRR) contains New York state rules and regulations. The NYCRR is officially compiled by the New York State Department of State's Division of Administrative Rules.
Contents
See also
* ''New York ...
NYSP Recruitment Center website
Union representing Troopers and Supervisors
Union representing Investigators
*
{{authority control
State law enforcement agencies of New York (state)
1917 establishments in New York (state)
Government agencies established in 1917