Staffing

Desk Officer:

     The Lieutenants will normally serve as the Desk Officer on their respective tours. In the absence of a Lieutenant, a Sergeant shall at such times as necessary assume the responsibilities of Desk Officer as well as Patrol Supervisor.  The Desk Officer shall be responsible for the overall direction of operations during the respective tour.

Patrol Division:

     Members assigned to the Patrol Division provide complete coverage of the 5.3 square miles of the Village. The Patrol Division is composed of our first-line officers who are fully trained to respond to both emergency and non-emergency calls for service.  The Village is divided into five sectors, providing around-the-clock police protection.  Each year, the Patrol Division continues to maintain an emergency response time of two minutes.  Each patrol vehicle is equipped with first aid equipment including an AED Unit (Automated External Defibrillator), which aids the responding officer in dealing with extreme medical-related issues.  On average, the Department responds annually to nearly 20,000 calls for service including approximately 2,500 calls for medical-related issues. 

Traffic Division:

     The Department has a Traffic Division that consists of one Sergeant and 10 Officers who provide targeted traffic enforcement throughout the Village. The Department believes this activity is vital to maintaining safe roadways, reducing auto accidents, and deterring criminal activity within the Village. Other components of the Department’s Traffic Safety Program are Commercial Vehicle Safety Checkpoints performed by the Motor Carrier Unit in association with NYS DOT Inspectors, Temp Tag Program in association with NYS DMV Investigators, NYS Grant DWI Patrols, Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee Police Traffic Services Grant Program and Buckle Up NY Grant Program.

     Utilizing grants acquired from the NYS Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, the Department deploys directed patrols during the No Empty Chair Campaign, Buckle Up NY Campaign, and the School Speed Zone Campaign performed during the start of each new school year. These campaigns focus on the following violations: Speeding, Aggressive Driving, Cell Phone usage while driving, and failure to use seatbelts and child restraint devices. In addition to the previously mentioned grants, the Department utilizes a NYS DMV grant to perform dedicated DWI Patrols during major holiday weekends.  These special patrols take place on Memorial Day weekend, July 4th, Labor Day weekend, and assorted days and weekends from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve. 

     The Department added a new initiative in cooperation with NYS DMV to battle the use of fake/improperly displayed temporary paper license plates. These plates are used to avoid paying tolls, avoid traffic camera enforcement, evade plate readers, and commit crimes with no traceability. Throughout the year, the Traffic Unit, in conjunction with NYS DMV Investigators, conducts numerous enforcement details focused on the enforcement of these types of license plates.  The details result in multiple violations issued and numerous illegally operated vehicles and commercial tractor-trailers being removed from the roadways of Garden City. 

     The Commercial Vehicle Safety Checkpoint Program is instrumental in removing hazardous commercial vehicles from the roadway.  Some violations that pose a danger to the general public include overweight offenses, dangerous load offenses, hazardous material offenses, and unsafe equipment violations.  The program also has a positive impact on reducing damage to the roadways of Garden City by removing and deterring overweight vehicles from traveling on Village streets. Throughout the year, the Department conducts numerous commercial vehicle inspection details, in cooperation with NYS DOT Inspectors, which result in numerous trucks being inspected, multiple violations being issued, and trucks being put out of service, as well as being impounded.

     The Department's approach to traffic safety is threefold - strict enforcement, education, and prevention. Since 2001, the Department has annually received AAA's Platinum Traffic Safety Award, its highest honor.