The New Rochelle Police Department is an award-winning law enforcement agency that serves the 7th largest city in New York State using state-of-the-art methods mixed with old-fashioned community engagement. It employs 216 personnel -- 174 of them sworn police officers -- and features all the latest developments, from top-of-the-line scientific forensics to community-oriented policing. The Department responds to close to 50,000 calls for service, investigates more than 1,300 Part 1 crimes, and processes 1,500 arrests every year. On June 2, 1993, the Department was certified as an accredited agency by the New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation Council, making it among the first group of police departments in New York to earn accreditation; it has maintained continual accreditation since.  

This is a full-service law enforcement agency for residents and business owners of New Rochelle, New York, which is located in Westchester County. An appointed Police Commissioner, Robert Gazzola, and Deputy Police Commissioner, Cosmo Costa, oversee the Department, which is divided into three main divisions, each overseen by a captain. They are: Staff Services, Police Services and Criminal Investigations. 

A Long and Proud History

The Town of New Rochelle established its first professional police department in the Spring of 1885, replacing a two-century old system of constables. Inherited from the Colonial Era, the constable-magistrate system was the almost universal system of law enforcement in the United States up until the middle of the nineteenth century. But population growth and increased mobility diminished the effectiveness of this relatively informal system. American cities began establishing professional police organizations, and by the end of the century smaller communities like New Rochelle joined the trend.

View the complete history of the New Rochelle Police Department.