Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department

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Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department
Abbreviation	MTAPD
Agency overview
Formed	January 1, 1998[1]
Preceding agencies	Metro-North Railroad Police Department Long Island Rail Road Police Department Staten Island Rapid Transit Police Department (2005)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	New York City, New York, USA
Legal jurisdiction	New York and Connecticut
General nature	Local civilian police
Operational structure
Police Officers	646
Agency executive	Owen Monaghan, Chief
Parent agency	Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Units	show List Patrol Highway Patrol Detective Division Inter-agency Counterterrorism Task Force Emergency Services Unit Canine Unit (K-9) Communications Unit Technology & System Development Right of Way Task Force Internal Affairs Bureau
Facilities
Districts	show 9 District # 1 - Suffolk County, New York District # 2 - Nassau County, New York District # 3 - Queens and Brooklyn counties of New York District # 4 - Penn Station District # 5 - Grand Central Terminal and 125th Street Station District # 6 - Lower Westchester County and the Bronx, New York District # 7 - Upper Westchester, Dutchess, Rockland, Putnam, and Orange Counties of New York District # 8 - Fairfield and New Haven Counties of Connecticut District # 9 - Richmond County, New York
Website
web.mta.info/mta/police/

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department (MTAPD)^[2] is the law enforcement agency of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. MTA Police Officers are fully empowered under the New York State Public Authorities Law and are commissioned in the state of Connecticut. Their geographic area of employment extends to all counties in New York served by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, giving the MTA Police the ability to exercise full police authority within the counties of Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, and in New York City.

The MTA Police Department is not responsible for the New York City Subway. The subways are patrolled by the NYPD Transit Bureau under contract since 1994, with assistance from 500 MTAPD officers which have been stationed in transit since 2019 to address farebeating and homelessness.

History[]

The department was formed on January 1, 1998, with the consolidation of the Long Island Rail Road Police Department and the Metro-North Railroad Police Department. Since 9/11, the department has expanded in size and has ramped up dramatically its counter-terrorism capabilities, adding canine teams and emergency services officers. There are 1 lieutenant, 4 sergeants, and 44 police officers who are assigned to the K-9 Unit and serve as handlers with their canine partners. The department now has one of the best trained K-9 units in the United States. At a national competition in 2013, two MTA Police dogs took third and fourth place in explosives detection.^[3]

Currently, training for new recruits is conducted at the New York City Police Academy. After successfully completing the academy curriculum, officers are further trained in Connecticut law and law enforcement procedures.

On June 1, 2005, the Staten Island Rapid Transit Police Department, with 25 officers, was merged into the MTA Police Department. The Staten Island Rapid Transit Police Department was responsible for policing the Staten Island Rapid Transit System (SIRT) in the Staten Island borough of New York City. This was the final step in consolidating MTA agency law enforcement, and increased the total workforce of the department to 716, including civilians.^[4]

On September 12, 2019, the MTA announced the addition of 500 MTAPD officers to patrol the New York City Subway, nearly doubling the 783 officers previously employed by the MTAPD. This came shortly after Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the MTA to solve the issue of homelessness in the subway system.^[5] After criticism of multiple high-profile arrests, multiple MTA board members expressed concerns over the added police presence, citing the high cost of personnel, estimated at $249 million over four years.^[6][7]

Ranks of Department[]

Staten Island Rapid Transit Police Patch

The following is a list of all of the ranks of the MTA Police Department:

Title	Insignia	Uniform Shirt Color
Chief of Police		White
Chief of Operations		White
Deputy Chief		White
Assistant Deputy Chief		White
Inspector		White
Deputy Inspector		White
Captain/Detective Captain		White
Lieutenant/Detective Lieutenant		White
Sergeant/Detective Sergeant		Dark Blue
Police Officer/Detective		Dark Blue

Rank insignia for Sergeant and Detective Sergeant (when in uniform) is worn on the upper sleeves of the shirt and jacket while rank insignia for Lieutenant through Chief of Department is worn on the collars of the shirt and the shoulders of the jacket.

Districts[]

MTA Police vehicle at the Tarrytown Metro-North station

Specialized Units[]

The department has the following specialized units (details):

• Detective Division
• Inter-agency Counterterrorism Task Force (ICTF)
• Executive Protection Unit
• Emergency Services Unit (ESU) ^[9]
• Hybrid Threat Unit
• Homeless Assistance Unit
• Fare Evasion Task Force
• Canine Unit (K-9)
• Highway Patrol ^[10]
• Communications Unit
• Internal Affairs Bureau
• Technology & System Development (TSD)
• Right of Way Task Force (ROW)
• Applicant Investigations

See also[]

• List of law enforcement agencies in New York

References[]

External links[]

• Media related to Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website