Jurisdiction Question

[NorwichCadet]

Alrite guys I'm just got a couple of quick questions...NY State police obvisouly have state jurisdiction but why do they isolate themselves to interstate ihghways? Same thing wtih MTA police. Is it like an unwrritten rule? And why doesn't NCPD patrol towns in nassau county that have there own PD? And what about borders between Nassau and Suffolk?

[gbotj]

Nassau towns have their own police departments because they refused to be a part of a nassau police district. The individual towns decided to keep their PD when the Nassau Police was created in 1920. These towns still recieve special services like Detectives and ESU from NCPD.

The NYS Police only work the state highways because Long Island have their own county police departments. Some towns out east on long island that do not have their own town police have the NYS Police and Suffolk Deputy Sheriff's patrol, and answer calls. NYSP are also the main police department for most upstate towns.

MTA Police only patrol Metropolitan Transportation Authority facilities for LIRR, Metro North, and Staten Island Rapid Transit. They answer any calls reguarding a train, or any facility of those 3 entities.

For the borders, a Nassau or Suffolk Police officer can arrest anywhere in NYS. However they can only issue a summonse inside their geographical area of employment which would be either Nassau County or Suffolk County.

[formerFAM]

For the borders, a Nassau or Suffolk Police officer can arrest anywhere in NYS. However they can only issue a summonse inside their geographical area of employment which would be either Nassau County or Suffolk County.

[L-1]

While I am not from New York and can't speak to its laws, there are some other considerations here that are common to all states.

Many states (like California, where I am) give every type of cop police authority anywhere in the state. The idea is to keep them from being helpless if a serious crime occurs in their presence. However, our legislature also gives each type of officer a primary (but not exclusive) mission. For example, the primary mission of municipal officers is to provide police service to the particular city that employs them. The primary mission of the highway patrol is the enforcement of laws related to operation of vehicles on the highway. The primary mission of the county sheriff is to provide police services to the unincorporated parts of the county (places where there are no incorporated cities).

Each organization is given an annual budget for the purpose of carrying out their primary mission. If an officer comes across a crime while outside their normal area of responsibility (mission area) it is not unreasonable for them to take whatever action is necessary to temporarily stabilize the situation until it can be turned over to law enforcement from the appropriate jurisdiction. But if (for example) officers from the Highway Patrol start routinely handling crimes in City X, just because they have statewide authority, it becomes a misappropriation of public funds because their budget is intended for highway enforcement and not burglary investigations. There are serious consequences to handling crimes outside your primary mission area. Were the legislature to find out that the Highway Patrol wasted one million dollars last year doing things outside their primary mission area, then it is obvious that they didn't need that million dollars in the first place, and its a good bet that their budget for this year will be cut by one million dollars to keep that mistake from being repeated again.

Similarly, unless you place limits on who is going to handle what, it becomes impossible to affix responsibility for keeping a jurisdiction safe. For example, if the Highway Patrol, County Sheriff and City Police all start handling crimes in the same city, who do you hold accountable when crime goes up, or when a call gets ignored? (Each can now say they thought it was the other department's responsibility.)

At the same time, a lack of limits would allow officers to abandon the primary mission they were being paid to carry out and chase whatever crime they felt like. Several years back we wound up firing someone because, in spite of repeated warnings not to do so, he kept leaving his beat to look for crime in other jurisdictions. Then when he found something, instead of turning the matter over to the appropriate agency, he would handle it to a conclusion himself, taking his unit out of service for most of the shift.

So, just because someone has statewide jurisdiction doesn't mean they are going to routinely handle crimes anywhere in the state. There are issues of funding and accountability to be considered.

[bklynbob]

MTA pd covers all the mta bus depots.

[NorwichCadet]

that's what i thought was true also....but a few weeks ago i saw a MTA Highway Patrol going up and down the LIE and about a few months ago i saw a MTA Highway Patrol pull somebody over on the northernstate...it just kinda threw me off

[formerFAM]

that's what i thought was true also....but a few weeks ago i saw a MTA Highway Patrol going up and down the LIE and about a few months ago i saw a MTA Highway Patrol pull somebody over on the northernstate...it just kinda threw me off

[PTLovesMe81]

that's what i thought was true also....but a few weeks ago i saw a MTA Highway Patrol going up and down the LIE and about a few months ago i saw a MTA Highway Patrol pull somebody over on the northernstate...it just kinda threw me off

MTA has statewide jurisdiction in NYS and statewide jurisdiction in CT as well. MTA keeps control over many bridges and tunnels coming converging on NYC and routinely patrols the roads to and from those bridges.

Also to your post about Troopers before, don't be the fool who thinks that they "ONLY STICK TO THE STATE HIGHWAYS ON LONG ISLAND." They have statewide jurisdiction in NYS. Because other agencies handle routine assignments in their jursidictions, that doesnt mean the state police can't go into a jurisdiction and act on any police matter they see fit. They don't often, but every once in a while you'll see state PD in someone elses area enforcing something.

[Yankee_1]

Alrite guys I'm just got a couple of quick questions...NY State police obvisouly have state jurisdiction but why do they isolate themselves to interstate ihghways?

Because thats all there good for!!! and half the time you cant find one to cover the expressways.

seriously they are the primary law enforcement in areas that dont have police or sheriff northern NY, southern tier. Here they do highway cause we have local police and county sheriff that cover the area. they can take everyone of my jobs if tehy want to........PLEASE take my jobs!!! We get along great with each other here local,county, troopers. never seen anyone argue over whose job it is, unless were trying to pawn it off on them!!