Common name Southampton Police Formed July 1, 1951 | Abbreviation STPD Employees 157 | |
Legal personality Governmental: Government agency Operations jurisdiction* Town of Southampton in the state of New York, USA | ||
The Southampton Town Police Department, commonly referred to as STPD, is a professional police organization responsible for primary jurisdictional law enforcement for the Town of Southampton, New York. Southampton Town is located in Suffolk County. The Southampton Town Police Headquarters are located in Hampton Bays, with an address of 110 Old Riverhead Rd, Hampton Bays, NY 11946 (631) 728-3400. The department is a New York State Accredited Agency.
The Southampton Town Police Department is headed by Chief Robert Pearce.
History
The area today known as Southampton Town was settled in 1640. As early as 1641, five marshals were appointed to keep order in the area. This was the beginning of the first organized police protection in the Town of Southampton.
In 1922-23, the first two full time constables were hired, at a salary of $30.00 per month plus a fee for each arrest made. This was the first time uniformed patrol officers were seen in the Town of Southampton except for the New York State Troopers.
In 1938, the Town of Southampton was separated into the West Precinct and the East Precinct. This improved the efficiency of policing. Patrols were assigned to certain sectors in each precinct area rather than moving throughout the township. The expanding need of police protection in each sector, lead to the appointment of new officers.
On July 1, 1951 the Town of Southampton officially established the Southampton Town Police Department. The department initially consisted of 2 Captains, 2 Lieutenants, 1 Sergeant and 4 Police Officers. Today, the Southampton Town Police Department is the largest law enforcement agency on the East End of Long Island and one of the largest Town Police Departments in New York with 112 police officers. In November of 2012 Chief William Wilson resigned because "he has been blocked at every turn from making the kind of changes and improvements to the police department that he had hoped to when he was appointed"