New York City Police Department

Today, Commissioner Jessica Tisch was officially sworn in to lead the nation's largest police department, focusing on enhancing community engagement and advancing the department's public safety mission. Before her appointment as Commissioner of New York City Department of Sanitation , Commissioner Tisch served for 12 years at the NYPD, where she was the Deputy Commissioner for the Information Technology Bureau. Please join us in welcoming her back, this time as Police Commissioner Tisch, as she steps into this pivotal role.

When a man suffered a medical emergency while on a vessel near Sandy Hook, NJ, the Air Sea and Rescue team was dispatched at the location. Watch the heroic video as the divers enter the water and use a rescue basket to safely bring the individual aboard the aircraft.

Since 1933, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has been a cherished holiday tradition. This year, the tree's journey from West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to Manhattan involved a 140-mile trip with NYPD and other law enforcement partners ensuring its safe arrival through a multi-agency operation and safety inspection.

For nearly 40 years, Sgt. Gatto of the elite Highway Unit has served in the NYPD, dedicating the last 30 years to working in the marathon. Today marks his final day working the marathon before he officially retires. He will be passing the torch to Sgt. Acosta.

Guardian Angel, Present for Duty Sasha Cheng had officiated her sister's wedding that afternoon, but she and her husband, Daniel, returned home early. She was pregnant and not feeling so well. She called her doctor, who instructed her to go to the hospital immediately. Bay Ridge to Lower Manhattan is not a brief trip. And while Daniel was driving, Sasha’s discomfort turned into severe pain. With traffic growing denser, Daniel spotted an NYPD police officer, Joseph An, of the department’s Highway District, parked on the shoulder of the Gowanus Expressway. Daniel rapidly explained that his wife was in labor and that they needed help. Officer An activated his turret lights and instructed Daniel to turn on his hazard lights and follow him. With the cop escorting them through traffic, the couple arrived at New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, where Sasha was rushed into surgery. Their baby boy, who they named Royce, was born about 20 minutes later. Both the anesthesiologist and a nurse mentioned that if Officer An hadn't expedited the trip into Manhattan, the delivery would have had serious complications. Arriving any later at the hospital would have required general anesthesia and all the risks that entails. As it was, the procedure was performed successfully and both Sasha and her new baby were just fine. Daniel, needless to say, went from desperately worried to extraordinarily grateful—to doctors and nurses, and to the young cop who had wandered off. Officer An returned a short while later with a congratulatory card and a stuffed animal he picked up at a nearby CVS. He also gave the couple and their new addition an NYPD Highway Patrol patch he happened to have in his patrol bag. He wanted them to remember the trip, and their escort—as if they could ever forget. 

Gun-Toting Robbers Cornered in Brooklyn Basement By: Sergeant Brian A. Beegan Two-and-a-half hours into what had so far been—by Brooklyn standards, at least—a fairly mundane September afternoon on patrol, Sergeant Daniel Edmond’s police radio suddenly crackled with the 911 dispatcher’s voice, informing every cop in the 69th Precinct about an armed robbery unfolding in the basement beneath a small grocery store. As a neighborhood, Canarsie is not large—less than three square miles—and Edmond and his partner, Police Officer Carmin Fontaine, arrived quickly at the Rockaway Parkway market. A young woman, visibly shaken, met them at the curb and explained that this was her father’s store, and that two men came in, went downstairs, and were now holding three employees at gunpoint on the floor. The woman said she saw what happened on a security camera mounted in the basement. The door to the basement was now locked and the woman said there were no other entrances to it inside the building. The officers had to quickly make entry, however, because the lives of three innocent victims were potentially at stake. Edmond called for backup before kicking open the door, and immediately caught a glimpse of one suspect at the bottom of the stairs, who immediately retreated deep into the basement as Edmond and Fontaine descended and ran to catch up. The robbers were apprehended – and their loaded, 9mm semiautomatic gun was seized – on the short stairs leading to a closed delivery entrance that opens up onto the sidewalk in front of the store. Two victims had been pistol-whipped, and the third had $40 in cash and a cell phone stolen. All had been ordered to the floor and told they would be killed if they looked at their assailants. The perpetrators, natives of Panama who live in Queens, were each charged with robbery, burglary, felony assault, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, and criminal possession of stolen property. Both men were held on bail and are awaiting their next court date. The 32-year-old suspect was also wanted in regard to a Brooklyn murder investigation from April 2024; the 21-year-old suspect had four prior arrests, all from this year in New York City, including two robberies, a grand larceny, and a petit larceny.

At the 2nd Annual NOBLE NY 5K Run/Walk, held in honor of Det. Dillion Stewart, family members, officers, and participants gathered not only to remember this fallen hero but also to celebrate his legacy. A portion of the funds raised will support a scholarship established in Det. Stewart's name, ensuring his legacy endures and continues to transform lives.

Earlier today, members of New York-Task Force 1, an urban search and rescue team composed of Emergency Service Unit, FDNY, and NYC Emergency Management personnel, were activated by FEMA to respond to Hurricane Helene. With only hours notice, these heroes left the comfort of their homes to support our neighbors as they brace for this natural disaster.

Gun-Toting Man Evades Subway Fare, Lands in Jail By P.O. Bryan Rozanski Two rookie NYPD officers stopped a 19-year-old man for not paying the fare at a Brooklyn subway station this week and discovered that he was stealthily carrying an illegal, loaded firearm into the vast transit system. Melissa Forde and Maurice Evans, Transit District 32 police officers who have both worked for less than a year patrolling the nation’s largest and busiest subway network, were standing inside the mezzanine entrance of the Cortelyou Road station when they saw the man avoid paying by manipulating and squeezing past the turnstile at about 10:50 a.m. on Tuesday. The not-so-elusive fare evader immediately walked toward the platform — and directly at the uniformed cops. He was carrying a small, black plastic bag in his left hand, which, when the officers stopped him, he slightly lowered and positioned behind his leg, Forde recalled. “I felt like he was trying to hide something,” Forde said. “So I told him to put his arms down and to his sides, so I could see both of his hands.” With Evans keeping a sharp eye on the man, Forde checked the man’s identity using her NYPD-issued smartphone. It was quickly determined that he was on a list of transit recidivists — people who had previously committed offenses within the subway system. As such, Forde and Evans could not just eject him from the system or write him a summons for theft of services; he had to be arrested. As Evans handcuffed the man, who lives about a dozen blocks from the subway stop, Forde took possession of the small bag and immediately suspected it might contain a potentially dangerous weapon. “I just had a gut feeling,” she said. “It's a thin bag, but I could tell with my hands that it was a heavy and solid object.” Back at the NYPD transit command, the officers thoroughly searched the man and his property, and found him to have $151 in cash in his pocket — more than enough for the $2.90 subway fare. Meanwhile, Forde’s instinct proved correct: In the bag, hidden beneath a pair of athletic shorts, was a 9 mm handgun. The semiautomatic Smith & Wesson pistol was loaded with three rounds of ammunition. Police charged the Flatbush, Brooklyn man with criminal possession of a weapon and theft of services. At his arraignment in Kings County Criminal Court on Wednesday, he was held on bail pending his next court appearance. Through Sept. 22, officers in Transit District 32 have arrested 612 people for fare evasion, a tally that is 128 percent higher than the 268 people arrested during the same period last year. Officers also wrote nearly 5,000 theft-of-services summonses this year, a 28 percent increase over last year. Systemwide throughout New York City, subway fare-evasion arrests have jumped nearly 112 percent, and summonses are up by more than 9 percent.

On October 17, 1992, 52-year-old Margaret Tobar was found bound, beaten, and strangled in her apartment located at 439 Beach 22nd Street. For 32 years, detectives from the Cold Case Squad has been working relentlessly to bring justice for the family. If you have any information on this case, please call or DM Crimestoppers at 800-577-TIPS.