The Captain
Administrative Lieutenant
Desk Lieutenants
Anti-crime sergeant
Patrol sergeants
Radio motor patrol officers
The Foot patrolman.
The Captain is the boss and has a special office.
The admin Lt runs the precinct and supervises the clerical staff, which includes communications, payroll, roll call and planning.The desk lieutenants are responsible for the 24 hour operation of the precinct.
The Anti-crime sergeant is assigned to supervise plainclothes officers to apprehend serious offenders. Note, this was the best job in the precinct but because they were too effective, the city disbanded them.
The patrol sergeants usually supervise the daily activities of both the RMP (Radio Motor Patrol) and foot patrol officers.
The RMP officers patrol the various sectors in the precinct and respond to all the radio calls for assistance. You name it, they do it.
The foot patrolman is now extinct like the buffalo, but in my day he walked posts and interacted with the Community. He was taken off his post to guard a DOA until the Medical examiner took custody or the body until it was released to a funeral director. Nobody wanted this assignment as you had to search the body, sometimes decomposed, and affix the UF95 tag. Often the foot patrolman flew to other pcts, like the 19th to guard diplomatic embassies, commonly known as fixers.
The foot patrolman was the eyes and ears of the department as he interacted with the community. Often he would be given information about criminal activity by the merchants on his post. As times changed he like the buffalo almost became extinct. As a result of 9-11 he was now assigned to anti-terrorist patrol in Manhattan and the airports and tunnels.
Eventually there would become first a terrorist task force unit of NYPD, FBI, and state investigators. Also a rapid response team was created to handle large protests. So both the foot patrol and also the RMP drivers were reduced from precinct patrol. It’s just a matter of where your priorities are.
There now is a program where off duty officers are employed for security by large corporation. Sadly one officer gave his life recently guarding the NFL headquarters building. As a young girl our Margaret worked in that building. The new mayor now wants to do away with the unit. The former mayor did away with the highly successful anti crime units for political reasons. They were too effective.
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Note: The image is of the cast of Barney Miller, the TV series that my brother considers to be the most realistic depiction of a NYPD precinct.
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