The members of the police force of said City
shall possess in every part of the State of New York, all the common
law and statutory powers of constables, except for the service of
civil process; and any warrant for search or arrest, issued by any
Magistrate of the State of New York, may be executed in any part of
the state by any member of the police force of said City, without
any endorsement of said warrant, and according to the terms thereof;
and all the provisions of Sections Seven, Eight and Nine of Chapter
Two, Title Two, Part Four of the Revised Statutes, in relation to
the giving and taking of bail, shall apply to this article.
The Chief of Police, to be appointed under the
provisions of this Part 1, shall be (subordinate to the Mayor of the
City of Albany) the chief executive of the police force created by
this Part 1, and he shall obey, and cause the force under him to obey,
the rules and regulations that may be from time to time established
by said Police Board in accordance with the provisions of this Part
1. Said Chief of Police shall possess the powers of a Magistrate to
entertain complaints for criminal offenses and to issue warrants for
the arrest of persons charged with such offenses, which warrants shall
be made returnable before either of the Police Justices of said City
of Albany, at the Police Court. He shall also possess the power to
commit persons charged with criminal offenses, until an examination
shall be had before such Police Justices, or one of them.
The Chief of Police shall have the charge of
organizing and directing a detective staff of not more than five,
which staff shall, from time to time, be selected, designated and
detailed for services connected with the prompt detection and aid
in the punishment of crime, and in such mode and manner as the Board
of Commissioners may select and direct.
Said Board of Police shall, whenever expedient,
and on the application of a corporation or person or persons showing
the necessity thereof, detail regular patrolmen of the police force,
or appoint and swear any additional number of special patrolmen of
the police force to do special duty within said City, the person or
persons by whom the application shall be made contributing to the
police fund, by payment to the Chamberlain of said City of Albany
a sum not exceeding the sum of $2.50 per diem of service on such detail
of special duty. But the patrolmen so additionally and specially appointed
shall be subject to the orders of the Chief of Police, and shall obey
the rules and regulations of said Board, and conform to its general
discipline, and to such special regulations as shall be made, and
shall wear such dress and emblems as the Board may direct; and shall,
during their term of holding such appointment, possess all the powers
and privileges and discharge all the duties of patrolmen of the police
force or such special duties as may be assigned to them by the Police
Board; and they may be removed at any time by said Board, without
cause assigned therefor, upon notice to the person or persons who
applied for the appointment as aforesaid. All supernumerary patrolmen
appointed by said Police Board shall be appointed for the purpose
of temporarily filling the places and discharging the duties of the
regular patrolmen who may be absent from duty from time to time, and
for no other purpose whatever, and while on duty such supernumerary
patrolmen shall possess the same powers and be subject to the same
duty and discipline as regular policemen, and they shall receive such
compensation as the Board of Police Commissioners may determine, not
exceeding the per diem pay of regular policemen; but no supernumerary
patrolman shall be paid for any service except as in this section
provided.
The Board of Police may also, upon any emergency,
or apprehension of riot, pestilence or invasion, appoint as many special
patrolmen, without pay, from among the citizens, as it may deem desirable;
and during any day of public election it may appoint, to perform duty
in said City of Albany, so many special patrolmen as may be required
to keep order during such election, who may be paid for their services,
as such special patrolmen on such day, $2 each out of the public fund,
to be contributed by said City of Albany: provided, however, that
each special patrolman so appointed shall at the time of his appointment,
make an oath, before a Commissioner or the Chief of Police, that he
will not interfere in any manner with the election taking place on
the day for which he is appointed, otherwise than by depositing his
own vote; and provided that such pay may be withheld, and he may be
duly prosecuted as for a misdemeanor, if the terms of such oath be
violated; and during the term of service of any special patrolman
authorized as aforesaid, he shall possess all the powers and privileges,
and perform all the duties of the patrolmen of the standing force,
and he shall wear such emblem as shall be prescribed and furnished
by said Board.
No member of the police force, under penalty
of forfeiting the salary or pay which may be due him, shall withdraw
or resign, except by permission of said Board, unless he shall have
given to the Chief of Police one month's notice in writing of his
intention so to do; every member of said police force must have residence
within the City of Albany.
It is hereby made the duty of said police force,
at all times of the day and night, within said City of Albany, and
the members of said force are accordingly hereby thereunto empowered
especially to preserve the public peace, prevent crime, detect and
arrest offenders, suppress riots and insurrections, protect the rights
of persons and of property, guard the public health, preserve order
at every primary and public election, remove nuisances from public
streets, and public and private alleys, roads, places, and highways;
repress and restrain disorderly houses and houses of ill fame; to
arrest all street beggars and mendicants; to provide a proper police
attendance at every fire, in order that thereby the firemen, fire
engines, and property exposed may be suitably protected or assisted;
to assist, advise and protect immigrants, strangers and travelers
in public streets and at landings of ferry and steamboats, river boats
and canal boats, and at railway stations; enforce every law relating
to the suppression and punishment of crime, or to the observance of
Sunday, or regarding pawnbrokers, emigration, or elections, or gambling,
or intemperance, or lotteries, or lottery policies, or vagrants, or
disorderly persons, or the public health, or any ordinance or resolution
of the Common Council of said City applicable to police, health or
criminal procedure.
The several members of said police force shall
have power and authority, immediately and without process, to arrest
and take into custody any person who shall commit, or threaten or
attempt to commit, in the presence of such member, or within his view,
any breach of the peace or offense directly prohibited by act of the
legislature or by any ordinance of the City, but such member of the
police force shall, immediately upon such arrest, convey in person
such offender before the nearest Magistrate, that he may be dealt
with according to law.
No person holding office under this Part 1 shall
be liable to military or jury duty, or to arrest on civil process,
or to service of subpoena from civil courts, while actually on duty.
Said Board is authorized from time to time to
contract for and to provide suitable accommodations within said City
for the detention of witnesses who are unable to furnish security
for their appearance in criminal proceedings; and such accommodations
shall be in premises other than those used for the confinement of
persons charged with crime, fraud or disorderly conduct; and it shall
be the duty of all Magistrates in committing witnesses to have regard
to the rules and regulations of said Board in respect to their detention.
Said Board shall cause to be kept general complaint
books, in which shall be entered any complaint of a police nature
preferred upon a personal knowledge of the circumstances thereof,
with the name and residence of the complainant; they shall also cause
to be kept books of registration of lost, missing and stolen property,
for the general convenience of the public and for the information
of said police force. Said Board shall cause to be kept books of record
of said Police Department, wherein shall be entered the name of every
member of said police force, with the time and place of his nativity,
the place where and the time when (if born out of the United States)
he became a citizen of the United States; his age upon becoming such
member and his former occupation, the number of his family and the
residence thereof, and the date of his appointment and of his resignation
of, or withdrawal or dismissal from, said force, with the cause of
the latter, and against all such entries sufficient space shall be
left wherein to make record of any especial arrests made from time
to time by such member, or of any special service, deemed meritorious
by the Board, done by him. Such books shall be, at all business hours,
and when not in actual use, open to public inspection. Said Board
shall also cause to be kept and bound all police returns and reports
from any member of said force, and all minutes of the proceedings
of said Board; which returns, reports and minutes shall be open for
public inspection only in the discretion of said Board.
All criminal process for any offense committed
within said City, issuing out of any court, or from any Justice, Judge
or Justice of the Peace within said county, shall be served by a member
of said police force.
The necessary expenses incurred in execution of criminal process within said City shall be a charge against the City. No fees or compensation whatever other than as herein provided, shall be charged or received by any officer or member of said police force, for the arrest, confinement or discharge of any person, or for mileage and travel, or for serving any warrant, subpoena or process, or for discharging any other duty required by this Part
1; nor shall any such fee or compensation be charged or received by any officer or citizen for the arrest of any person charged with crime, or for the services of any warrant, subpoena or other process in any criminal case, except as herein provided. The actual, necessary and reasonable traveling expenses, which shall include Board as well as transportation, incurred by any officer or member of said police force, or by any other officer or citizen who may have been selected to execute any process issued within said City of Albany, incurred by any such officer or member of the police force, or other officer or person in executing any such process or discharging any duty required of him by the District Attorney of the County of Albany, or by any Police Justice, Justice of the Peace, Judge of a court of record or criminal court, held within said City, for any offense arising within said City, shall be audited and allowed by said Board of Commissioners, and paid by the Chamberlain of said City of Albany. But such charges shall only be allowed upon the affidavit of the person making them, and shall not include any items for traveling expenses, in cases wherein transportation has been furnished to the party gratuitously, and without pay by him, under whatever circumstances such free transportation may have been given. The Board of Supervisors of the County of Albany shall annually cause to be raised by tax, in the manner provided by law for assessing, levying and collecting the state and county taxes, within and for said county, the sum of $2,000 to pay, in part, the expenses incurred by said police force, in the service of all criminal process issuing from the District Attorney, or any Police Justice of the City of Albany, and a sum sufficient to pay the cost, charges and expenses for police services rendered by any member of said police force, or by said Police Board in the execution of criminal process, in cases now chargeable to said county; the same to be assessed, levied and collected upon and from the City in the same manner, ratio and proportion as the accounts of deputy sheriffs and constables of said county are now charged, assessed, levied and collected; the amount thereof to be paid to the Chamberlain of the City of Albany, to be applied toward the general expenses of said police force; and it shall be the duty of said Board of Police to furnish annually, to the Board of Supervisors of said county, an accurate statement of all the moneys paid out by said Board under the requirements of this section during the preceding year, and the amount so raised shall be paid over by the County Treasurer of said county to the Chamberlain of said City of Albany.
The Board of Police, for meritorious and extraordinary
services rendered by any member of the police force in the due discharge
of his duty, may permit any member of the police force to retain,
for his own benefit, any reward or present tendered him therefor;
and it shall be cause of removal from said force for any member thereof
to receive any such reward or present without giving notice thereof
to the Board. Upon receiving such notice said Board may either order
said member to retain the same or pay it over to the Chamberlain of
said City.
All fines imposed by the Board upon members
of the police force, by way of discipline, and collectible from pay
or salary, and all rewards, fees, proceeds of gifts and emoluments
that may be paid and given for account of extraordinary services of
any member of the police force (except when allowed to be retained
by such member), and all moneys remaining for the space of one year
in the hands of the Property Clerk, arising from the sale of unclaimed
goods, and all proceeds of suits for penalties under this Part 1,
shall be paid over to the Chamberlain of said City of Albany.
All property or money alleged or supposed to
have been feloniously obtained, or which shall be lost or abandoned,
and which shall thereafter be taken into the custody of any member
of said police force, or of any criminal court in the City of Albany,
or which shall come into the custody of any Police Justice within
said City of Albany, shall be, by such member or Justice, or by order
of said court, given into the custody of, and be kept by, the Property
Clerk of said City; and all such property and money shall be particularly
registered by said Property Clerk, in a book kept for that purpose,
which shall contain also a record of the names of the persons from
whom such property or money was taken, the names of the claimants
thereof, the time of the seizure, and any final disposition of such
property or money.
A. Whenever property or money shall be taken from persons
arrested, and shall be alleged to have been feloniously obtained,
or to be the proceeds of crime, and whenever brought with the claimant
thereof and the person arrested before some Magistrate for adjudication,
and the Magistrate shall be then and there satisfied from evidence
that the person arrested is innocent of the offense alleged, and that
the property rightfully belongs to such person, then said Magistrate
may thereupon, in writing, order such property or money to be returned
to such person, and the Property Clerk (if he has it) to deliver such
property or money to the accused person himself, and not to any attorney,
agent or clerk of such accused person.
B. If any claim to the ownership of such property or
money shall be made, on oath before the Magistrate, by or on behalf
of any other person than the person so arrested, and said accused
person shall be held for trial or examination, such property or money
shall remain in the custody of the Property Clerk until the discharge
or conviction of the person accused.
C. All property or money taken on suspicion of having
been feloniously obtained, or of being the proceeds of crime, and
for which there is no other claimant than the person from whom the
same was so taken, and all lost property coming into the possession
of any member of said police force, and all property and money taken
from pawnbrokers as the proceeds of crime, or by any such member taken
from persons supposed to be insane, intoxicated, or otherwise incapable
of taking care of themselves, shall, as soon as practicable, be transmitted
to the Property Clerk of said police force, to be duly registered
and advertised for the benefit of all persons and parties interested,
and for the information of the public as to the amount and disposition
of the property so taken into custody by the police.
D. All property and money that shall remain in the custody
of the Property Clerk for the period of six months without any lawful
claimant thereto, after having been three times advertised in the
three official newspapers of said City shall be disposed of as follows:
such property shall be sold at public auction, according to the tenor
of such advertising, and the proceeds of such sale shall be paid over
to the Chamberlain of said City of Albany.
E. If any property or money placed in the custody of
the Property Clerk shall be desired as evidence in any police or other
criminal court, such property shall be delivered to any officer who
shall present an order to that effect from such court. Such property
shall, however, not be retained in said court, but shall be returned
to said Property Clerk to be disposed of as hereinbefore provided.
Said Board of Police shall at all times cause
the ordinances of the City of Albany, not in conflict with the provisions
of this Part 1, to be properly enforced; and it shall be the duty
of said Board at all times when consistent with the rules and regulations
of the Board, and with the requirements of this Part 1, to furnish
all information desired.
Said District Attorney shall also have the power
to appoint two persons to discharge the business pertaining to his
office. The appointment shall be in writing under the hand and seal
of the District Attorney, and shall be filed in the Clerk's office
of the County of Albany; and such appointment shall continue during
the pleasure of the District Attorney. The persons thus appointed
shall, before they enter upon the discharge of their duties, take
an oath well and faithfully to perform such duties, to the best of
their ability, which oath shall be taken before the Clerk of Albany
County, or his deputy, and the same shall be filed in the Clerk's
office. The persons thus appointed shall be under the direction and
control of the District Attorney. They shall have all the powers granted
to a Sergeant of police of said City of Albany, and shall have power,
and it is hereby made their duty, to serve all criminal or other process,
and all bench warrants and other papers, in any and all parts of the
state, which may be issued by said District Attorney. Any member of
the police force of said City of Albany shall also have power to serve
any of the above-mentioned papers, or process, or warrants, when issued
by such District Attorney. The officers, whose appointment is provided
for in this section, shall each receive a salary of $1,200 annually,
which salary shall be paid in the same manner, and at the same time,
as the salaries of the police force of said City of Albany. Each of
such above-mentioned persons shall be allowed his necessary and actual
traveling expenses necessarily and actually incurred while traveling
on official business, under the direction of the District Attorney.
The amount of such expenses shall be sworn by the person incurring
them to have been actually and necessarily incurred while traveling
on official business, under the direction of the District Attorney,
who shall also certify to the facts of such direction. The amount
of such traveling expenses, when thus certified and sworn to, shall
be paid upon presentation of the bill therefor in the same manner
as the salaries of such persons. On or before the first Monday of
December next, the Chamberlain of the City of Albany shall report
to the Board of Supervisors the amount of such salaries and expenses
paid under the provisions of this section, which sum shall be audited
by the Board and paid by the County Treasurer to said Chamberlain
of the City of Albany; and such sum thus paid shall be a county charge.
And also, on or before said first Monday of December next, and thereafter
annually, said Chamberlain shall report to the Board of Supervisors
the amount that will probably be necessary to be paid for such salaries
and expenses during the then-coming year, which amount shall then
be levied and assessed and collected, in the same manner as other
county charges and shall be paid by the County Treasurer to the Chamberlain
of the City of Albany. The amounts thus paid to the Chamberlain shall
not be used or appropriated by him for any other purpose whatever
than the payment of such salaries and expenses. The Chamberlain shall
keep a just and full account of all moneys paid to and expended by
him under the provisions of this section and shall keep vouchers for
all moneys paid out by him; and at the time above specified, in each
year, he shall make a full report to the Board of Supervisors of the
amount received and expended by him under the provisions of this section,
giving items and dates and, when called upon, producing vouchers therefor.
The accounts of the Chamberlain, under this section, shall also be
open to inspection by the Board of Supervisors, or a committee thereof;
and Section 43 of Title 12, Chapter 77, of the Laws of 1870, is hereby
repealed.