Short answers, pulled from the story.
The NYPD was established on the 23rd of May 1845, replacing a night watch system. Mayor William Havemeyer was the figure who shepherded its creation. It is the largest, and one of the oldest, municipal police departments in the United States.
As of September 2023, the NYPD employs more than 40,000 people, including more than 30,000 sworn police officers. The authorized uniformed strength as of October 2023 was 33,536, with an additional 19,454 civilian employees.
Keechant Sewell became the first woman to serve as NYPD Commissioner on the 1st of January 2022. She announced her resignation on the 12th of June 2023. Jessica Tisch, appointed by Mayor Eric Adams on the 25th of November 2024, became the second woman to hold the office.
CompStat is a computer system the NYPD developed in 1994 for tracking crime geographically. Louis R. Anemone, then Chief of Patrol, originated weekly CompStat meetings, and the system moved to the Chief of Department's office when Anemone was promoted. It has since been adopted by police departments across the United States and Canada, though research on its impact on crime rates remains mixed.
Total major felonies in New York City fell from more than 527,000 in 1990 to roughly 95,600 in 2019. Murders dropped from 2,262 in 1990 to 319 in 2019, and auto thefts fell from nearly 147,000 to 5,430 over the same period.
Omnipresence was a surveillance strategy the NYPD launched in 2014 in public housing developments, deploying officers as stationary sentries and installing diesel-powered floodlight towers emitting approximately 600,000 lumens each. A National Bureau of Economic Research study estimated the lights reduced nighttime outdoor index crimes by 36 percent over six months. The program drew criticism from residents, medical associations, and civil liberties groups for its effects on sleep, health, and racial equity.