The Policing of Sunset Park Community
Many months ago, Linda Krekey and I spent a great deal of time searching
for old stories involving the policing of Sunset Park.
I am posting the "raw" material here in sequence. I will try to help provide some background
information in the right hand margin, but be forewarned, there is some confusion, in the early days, Manhattan was a city called New York and Brooklyn was a separate city known
as the City of Brooklyn,
At times, the State of New York controlled the police force. It was so confusing that at one point New York had two police forces - one from the State and one from the City and they were
fighting each other to see who was in charge.
But hopefully you will find this interesting & informative and anytime I discover
new information I will update & correct the old information.
This is a work in progress and will take months maybe years to complete.
In 1834 the City of Brooklyn
formed its first police force.
They merged with the Metropolitan Board of Police in 1862.
In 1862 the 48th Police Precinct
began covering a large area,
including Sunset park.
In 1870 a new Board of Police
of the City of Brooklyn was formed.
In 1873 the 48th Precinct was modified
to include the 8th sub-precinct with a
Sergeant & 12 Police Officers.
It was basically west & south of
Greenwood Cemetery.
In 1885 the 8th sub-precinct moved into
a "makeshift" station house in
a tenement building at
3rd Avenue & 36th Street.
As the population of the area increased
it became "full" precinct - the 18th.
In 1898 it became the 43rd Precinct,
then in 1913 it was renamed the 143rd,
in 1916 it was the 76th,
in 1924 was the 32nd
and in 1929 it became the 68th.
Around 1970, a number of new
station houses were built
and the precinct boundary lines
were altered.
Sunset Park became wholly contained from approximately 17th St to 65th Street,
from the waterfront to 8th Avenue.
And it was named the 72nd Precinct.
(this included Windsor Terrace)
Some Background Info
When Europeans first came to the New York City area, they had no police. People "ruled" and kept the peace by everyone participating. Eventually, the need for some security was needed during the night hours and a system of paid "night watchmen" was instituted.
During the American Revolution, the British occupied the area and it can be assumed that "policing" was in the hands of these invading soldiers.
When the troops left, the system of Night Watchmen, Constables and Marshals was in full control again.
In 1844, New York State passed the Municipal Police Act - to establish & define policing in NYC, I imagine this covered Brooklyn too. I believe that for a period of time a State authorized police force covered New York City & the City of Brooklyn, but at some point the City of Brooklyn had its own, separate police force.
(But in 1898, Manhattan's (New York City) and Brooklyn's police forces were united again as were the citywide police of Queens, the Bronx & Staten Island.)
In 1646, the Town of Brooklyn was established - it was one of 6 towns that made up today's Brooklyn.
In 1683 the English King established "Kings County" encompassing much of today's Borough.
In 1816 we became a village and in 1834 a city.
And in 1898 we became a borough as part of a greater NYC.
In 1850, Brooklyn was an independent city. In that year, the City of Brooklyn organized a police department following the example of the City of New York (across the East River). The New York Police Department was started 5 years earlier based on the "London Policing Plan".
Earlier in 1800, crime began to rise at an alarming rate as a massive wave of immigrants began coming here from Ireland. (A good example of how things change - within a few generations most police officers were Irish - quite a change as they now had to "manage" the behavior of newer immigrants.)
The City was divided into districts with the more important ones known as precincts and the lesser as sub-precincts. Each precinct had a Captain, Sergeants and a number of patrolmen based on territory & population.
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