Suffolk County Police Department (New York)

Suffolk County Police Department
Common name	Suffolk County Police
Abbreviation	SCPD
Patch of the Suffolk County Police Department
Agency overview
Formed	1960
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	County (US) of Suffolk County in the state of New York, USA
Map of Suffolk County Police Department's jurisdiction.
Size	911 square miles (2,400 km2)
Population	1.5 Million
Legal jurisdiction	Suffolk County, NY
General nature	Law enforcement Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	Yaphank, New York
Police Officers	2,349
Civilians	900
Agency executives	Tim Sini , Police Commissioner Stuart Cameron, Chief
Units	List Emergency Services Unit Aviation Marine Arson Highway Patrol Airport Operations Section Community Oriented Police Enforcement Auxiliary Police
Facilities
Precincts	7 Precincts List 1st Precinct - Town of Babylon, including the incorporated villages of Lindenhurst and Babylon. 2nd Precinct - Town of Huntington. 3rd Precinct - Town of Islip (West), including the incorporated village of Brightwaters. 4th Precinct - Town of Smithtown and the incorporated villages of the Branch, Islandia, and Lake Grove, and certain border areas of the Towns of Huntington, Islip and Brookhaven. 5th Precinct - Towns of Brookhaven (South) and Islip (East) and the incorporated villages of Patchogue and Bellport. 6th Precinct - Town of Brookhaven (North) and the incorporated villages of Old Field, Poquott, Belle Terre, Shoreham and Port Jefferson. 7th Precinct - Town of Brookhaven (east).
Helicopters	4
Website
Official Site
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

7 Precincts

The Suffolk County Police Department provides police services to 5 of the 10 Towns in Suffolk County, New York.

Prior to 1960, law enforcement in Suffolk County was the responsibility of local towns and villages as well as the New York State Police. From the 17th century until well into the 20th century, many of these jurisdictions employed only part-time constables, who were usually appointed by local communities and paid to enforce court orders. Additional fees were paid for making arrests, serving warrants and transporting prisoners. Few of these constables had any formal law enforcement training, hours were often long and pay was low.

The New York State Police arrived on Long Island in 1917, and many towns and villages began forming their own small police forces soon thereafter. Training remained inadequate, however, and none of these forces were equipped to handle serious incidents or major crimes. Communication and cooperation between forces remained spotty.

The demographic transformation of the county following World War II, however, forced a change. The rapid suburbanization of those years brought with it a dramatic rise in traffic and crime that threatened to overwhelm the 33 separate law enforcement agencies then operating within Suffolk County. Voices demanding a unified county police force, similar to the one already operating in neighboring Nassau County, grew louder.

Following the passage, in 1958, of state legislation creating the county executive form of government, a referendum was held on the creation of a county police force. The five western towns — Babylon, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown and Brookhaven — voted in favor. The five eastern towns — Riverhead, Southold, Shelter Island, East Hampton, and Southampton — opted to retain their own police forces, and do so to this day, with the Suffolk County Police Department providing support and specialized services.