Corruption Within the Ny Police Department

CORRUPTION WITHIN THE NY POLICE DEPARTMENT

The New York City police department holds the title of the oldest force in the United States. New York City’s finest have always been in the spot light and have received much well deserved fame and praise through the years. Unfortunately, many times it has been overshadowed with sorrow due to the corrupt practices that stem back to its’ inception.

In 1845 New York City was considered a metropolis and a population of almost 400,000 people. Most of these residents were poor immigrants and the crime rate and riots arising faster than could be controlled. Mayor William Havemeyer was responsible for the final passage of the police bill, which enabled the creation of a municipal police. George W. Matsell was named the first police chief and he controlled a staff of 900 men. This police department’s staff held two-year terms at the pleasure of politicians and the wealthy, clearly setting the stage for the definition of corruption.

One of the first examples of corruption in that era is the supervision of elections. Although most of these appointed policemen had loyalty to given political figures they were responsible for supervising the process, which led to many questionable outcomes. In an effort to clear the city of this corrupt system in 1857 the state legislature created the Metropolitan Police Department for New York City. This resulted in two rival police forces patrolling the city for several years, but the state government eventually won control of the police department until 1870 at which time control was restored at the local level.

In 1882 the total police force in New York was only about 2500 men and by now New York had become one of the world’s largest cities with a population of one million and a half people. Because of their small force rough methods were used to keep order and this lead to rising police corruption once again. It was commonplace to sell police captaincies and even more common...