In the series ... "I REMEMBER THE ROCKAWAYS"... Stevie S. Stevens writes about
"Patrolling the Rockaway Peninsula "

Getting off to a good start! The Rockaway Beach Police Department in a sepia-tone photograph reportedly dating to 1891. Back in the "good old days" it took only a force of eighteen men to maintain law and order on the Rockaway peninsula. Major crime back then was primarily prostitution, wanton gambling, pick-pocketing, and land-grabbing - a very common practice back before the turn of the century. Squatters would simply move onto the island, set up camp, construct some sort of rudimentary abode and then claim the land as their own. Of course this was not to be the case and as soon as the legal land owner discovered these make-shift camps, he would engage an official to assist him in vacating the intruders off his property. There were also isolated instances of petty thievery - vagrants ram sacking the remains of burned out homes and hotels - a practice common to frosty months when most of the inhabitants of the island were ensconced in their winter homes back in the city proper.

Prior to the consolidation of New York City in the year 1898, most of the local municipalities hired, maintained, and (occasionally) paid their own security forces. Most of the early policemen worked the job only on a part-time basis and seldom received much in the way of remuneration - if they indeed earned anything at all from their brief stints in law enforcement. For the most part, the job of securing the peace was primarily a voluntary position but according to record, there were seldom any real difficulties in locating and securing willing and able-bodied men who wished to wear a uniform and play at (being a) "make-believe" cop.

Insignias on the caps and uniforms (badges) of the men in our picture reflect the official police department of the newly established New York City Police Force, an institution founded in 1844 - however, in this we have a bit of a problem; that is - if we are to actually believe that the photo was taken in 1891 (the date inscribed on the back of the photograph). In effect, there was NO official (urban New York) city police presence on the Rockaway peninsula in that year - or for many years thereafter. The New York City Borough of Queens was (only) authorized on May 4th of the year 1897 by a vote of the New York State Legislature after an 1894 referendum on consolidation.* Furthermore, Queens Borough was actually established on January 1st of 1898...and the Rockaway peninsula portion of the Town of Hempstead was merged (along with other sections) to form the new borough at that time, dissolving all former municipal governments within the new borough.** If this historical information is to be believed, then the picture we are viewing would have had to be taken sometime after 1898 - when the city assigned a fixed and permanent police force to various sections of the Rockaway peninsula.

Without going "overboard" here it might be safer to assume that the photo was taken sometime shortly after the turn of the new century. The squad had been assembled to sit for an official departmental photograph - we can also assume that the structure in the background is (was) the then-current make-shift police station.

We can probably "rule out" (as location) the small village of Far Rockaway because at that time, the security force (assigned to Far Rockaway) was dispatched from a small courthouse located at the northeast corner of Mott Avenue - about 300 feet north onto what was then termed "Far Rockaway Avenue" (later Boulevard) and is now known as the northern continuation of Central Avenue. The village courthouse was in fact a converted elementary school - a parcel of land now used as a tiny park to the south of the existing three-story brick fire house located in the center of the small town. The plot of land currently utilized as the local (Queens Borough Branch) library was at one time the playground of that small wooden school house.

Law Enforcement Today

This is the 101st Precinct - Located on Mott Avenue - north side of the street - near the Cornaga Avenue extension intersection. Photo Credit: V. Steidl - October 29, 2007

I will "go out on a limb" here and state that it is my educated guess that this group of early century patrolmen would have constituted the security force for the mid point of the island - probably the section close to what is now Beach 100th Street in the Holland area - a precinct now known as the one hundred (100). It is extremely doubtful that this handful of "good" men would have had any idea then (over a century ago) of what law enforcement would become over the period of years on the Rockaway peninsula. Back in the year, cops earned about $8 a week (not including overtime) and the majority of the city force was made up of Irishmen - just perfect for what was to become the Seaside area of Rockaway.

References:

* New York Laws of NY, 1897 - 120th Session, Chapter 378, Section 2, Page 2.

** (1) Official Announcement of the Results of the Election - The New York Times, 1894-12/15. (2) Map Before the Five-Borough City: Queens.

email: steviesstevens@cs.com