4 ms·

> From Brownsville to downtown Manhattan, I would estimate that I passed more than 200 police officers, some from a distance, some close enough to touch. Wow,

by maaaats 13y ago

> From Brownsville to downtown Manhattan, I would estimate that I passed more than 200 police officers, some from a distance, some close enough to touch. Wow, is police that common in NY / the states? That's more police than I have seen in my entire life.

startupfounder 13y ago
We have over 35,000 police officers in the 5 boroughs of NYC. If you walk from Wall St. to Central Park you will see more than 200 easily.
enkephalin 13y ago
had the same reaction. in german citys police officers are quite a rare sight. usually only found near train stations, or the odd criminal hot-spot.
rayiner 13y ago
To provide more context: in 1990, London and NYC were of a similar size (~8 million) though NYC was and is quite a bit more dense. London had 184 homicides. NYC had 2,262. This past year London was down to 86, versus NYC's 414.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Yup. We might expect NYC's population of officers to begin declining, but they had serious crime problems not very long ago.
- grecy 13y ago
  To put that in more context, the murder rate in America is 10 times that of the next developed country. The murder rate in NYC and Chicago is higher than Mexico City
  - tptacek 13y ago
    That's because Mexico City's murder rate was so bad that the country plowed an avalanche of money into it, resulting in the world's densest police coverage; it also assumes that murders in Mexico City are reported as reliably as they are in the US, which is a dubious proposition. Mexico's various other cities are world leaders in violent crime; Juarez has a murder rate over 147/10k, more than 10x Chicago's, and that again assumes that everything is reported in Juarez, which is extremely unlikely. For whatever it's worth to you, neither NYC nor Chicago makes the top ten for the US. Chicago witnesses an astronomical number of murders, and is for that reason a national disgrace, but the rate isn't anomalous for the population. Chicago is a huge city.
swashboon 13y ago
NY has the largest municiple police force in the United States.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  NY has the largest population of any city in the US, too. IIRC, police force to population ratio (or at least, "on duty at any time" to population ratio) in the US tends to vary in a fairly narrow range among cities.
  - NoPiece 13y ago
    There is some variation though. For example, NYPD is 1 officer to 228 residents, LAPD is 1 officer to 426 residents. And if you consider the size of LA, police seem dramatically less visible than NY where there seems to be police on every block. Some good info on police per capita here: http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/law-enforcement-police-department-employee-totals-for-cities.html http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/law-enforce... NYPD is on the high side, and east coast seems to be more policed than the west coast.
qwerty_asdf 13y ago
For NYC, Sort of... maybe you'll pass the occasional cluster of ~10 cops on a subway platform, or other transportation hub. But if you also count police in police cars, and the likelihood of undercover cops and unmarked cars, and pass a police station, well... that's a stretch, but you could pad your numbers with an amount of assumption. Oh and by the way, to provide context, he was travelling from Brownsville, which, if by subway, might take an hour to reach. https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=brownsville&aq=&sll=40.724624,-73.886147&sspn=0.160016,0.308647&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+Kings,+New+York&ll=40.663582,-73.909492&spn=0.040041,0.077162&t=m&z=14&iwloc=A https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q... But consider where he was headed: City Hall. City Hall is an area teaming with cops. He might see 150 officers there alone, given their proximity to the courts.
grecy 13y ago
I was shocked when I visited NYC and saw hundreds of police in the subway carrying very large weapons in their hands, and wearing what looked like some kind of combat gear. I've never seen an assault rifle in my life, but that's what I assume they were, and I still find it very bizarre that's an every day occurrence for tens of millions of Americans
- downer88 13y ago
  Let me guess, Penn Station or Grand Central? Places like those are not "the subway," they're massive junctions that literally millions of people pass through 24 hours a day. Same goes for Times Square. You'll see cops on horses with assault rifles in Times Square. Oh yeah, and don't forget the Staten Island Ferry. Transit cops and the coast guard float around down there (literally).

by maaaats 13y ago

startupfounder 13y ago

We have over 35,000 police officers in the 5 boroughs of NYC. If you walk from Wall St. to Central Park you will see more than 200 easily.

enkephalin 13y ago

had the same reaction. in german citys police officers are quite a rare sight. usually only found near train stations, or the odd criminal hot-spot.

rayiner 13y ago

To provide more context: in 1990, London and NYC were of a similar size (~8 million) though NYC was and is quite a bit more dense. London had 184 homicides. NYC had 2,262. This past year London was down to 86, versus NYC's 414.

sliverstorm 13y ago
Yup. We might expect NYC's population of officers to begin declining, but they had serious crime problems not very long ago.
grecy 13y ago
To put that in more context, the murder rate in America is 10 times that of the next developed country. The murder rate in NYC and Chicago is higher than Mexico City
- tptacek 13y ago
  That's because Mexico City's murder rate was so bad that the country plowed an avalanche of money into it, resulting in the world's densest police coverage; it also assumes that murders in Mexico City are reported as reliably as they are in the US, which is a dubious proposition. Mexico's various other cities are world leaders in violent crime; Juarez has a murder rate over 147/10k, more than 10x Chicago's, and that again assumes that everything is reported in Juarez, which is extremely unlikely. For whatever it's worth to you, neither NYC nor Chicago makes the top ten for the US. Chicago witnesses an astronomical number of murders, and is for that reason a national disgrace, but the rate isn't anomalous for the population. Chicago is a huge city.

swashboon 13y ago

NY has the largest municiple police force in the United States.

dragonwriter 13y ago
NY has the largest population of any city in the US, too. IIRC, police force to population ratio (or at least, "on duty at any time" to population ratio) in the US tends to vary in a fairly narrow range among cities.
- NoPiece 13y ago
  There is some variation though. For example, NYPD is 1 officer to 228 residents, LAPD is 1 officer to 426 residents. And if you consider the size of LA, police seem dramatically less visible than NY where there seems to be police on every block. Some good info on police per capita here: http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/law-enforcement-police-department-employee-totals-for-cities.html http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/law-enforce... NYPD is on the high side, and east coast seems to be more policed than the west coast.

qwerty_asdf 13y ago

For NYC, Sort of... maybe you'll pass the occasional cluster of ~10 cops on a subway platform, or other transportation hub. But if you also count police in police cars, and the likelihood of undercover cops and unmarked cars, and pass a police station, well... that's a stretch, but you could pad your numbers with an amount of assumption. Oh and by the way, to provide context, he was travelling from Brownsville, which, if by subway, might take an hour to reach. https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=brownsville&aq=&sll=40.724624,-73.886147&sspn=0.160016,0.308647&vpsrc=6&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Brownsville,+Brooklyn,+Kings,+New+York&ll=40.663582,-73.909492&spn=0.040041,0.077162&t=m&z=14&iwloc=A https://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q... But consider where he was headed: City Hall. City Hall is an area teaming with cops. He might see 150 officers there alone, given their proximity to the courts.

grecy 13y ago

I was shocked when I visited NYC and saw hundreds of police in the subway carrying very large weapons in their hands, and wearing what looked like some kind of combat gear. I've never seen an assault rifle in my life, but that's what I assume they were, and I still find it very bizarre that's an every day occurrence for tens of millions of Americans

downer88 13y ago
Let me guess, Penn Station or Grand Central? Places like those are not "the subway," they're massive junctions that literally millions of people pass through 24 hours a day. Same goes for Times Square. You'll see cops on horses with assault rifles in Times Square. Oh yeah, and don't forget the Staten Island Ferry. Transit cops and the coast guard float around down there (literally).