TO ESTABLISH A METROPOLITAN POLICE DISTRICT, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE GOVERNMENT THEREOF.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SEC. 1. The counties of New York, Kings, Westchester and Richmond, are hereby constituted, for the purposes of this act, into one district, to be called "The Metropolitan Police District of the State of New York." Immediately upon the passage of this act, and thereafter, from time to time, as required by this act, there shall be appointed by the Governor, and by and with the consent of the Senate, (except that during any recess of the Senate, the Governor may appoint, subject to the thereafter consent of the same,) five Commissioners of Police, who shall be the chief officers of the said "The Metropolitan Police District," and who shall severally possess and perform therein the powers and duties authorized and enjoined by this act. The said Commissioners, together with the Mayors of the cities of Brooklyn and New York, ex officio, shall form the Board of Police for the said district, and a majority of them shall constitute a quorum of such Board for the transaction of business.

§ 2. Three of said Commissioners shall be appointed from the city of New York, one from Kings county, one from the county of Richmond or Westchester. The persons so first appointed shall thereupon assemble together in the office of the Secretary of State, and draw lots among themselves, in the presence of the said Secretary of State, or his deputy, for three terms of office; one term to expire, for three Commissioners upon the first day of May, which will be in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-eight; another term to expire, for two Commissioners, on the first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine. Each Commissioner appointed to fill a term succeeding an expiring one, shall be appointed thereafter for a full term of three years, and the appointment for such full term shall be made as provided in section first, and shall be made from the county in which the vacancy occurred. Any vacancy as Commissioner of Police for the said "The Metropolitan Police District," shall be filled by the Board of Police for the residue of the unexpired term. Any one of the said Commissioners who shall, during his term of office, accept any other place of public trust or emolument, or who shall, during the same period, receive any nomination for an office elective by the people, without publicly declining the same within ten days succeeding the said nomination, shall be deemed thereby to have vacated his office. Any one of the Commissioners aforesaid may be at all times removed by the Governor, under the provisions of the statutes relating to the removal from office of sheriff, which provisions are hereby extended so as to relate to each one of the said Commissioners.

§ 3. Upon the conclusion of the drawing for terms of office provided for in the preceding section, the said Secretary of State, or his deputy, shall file a certificate of the result thereof, and give to each Commissioner the proper certificate of his office, according to the term he shall have so drawn as aforesaid. The said Secretary of State, or his deputy, shall then administer the constitutional oath of office to each Commissioner, and make the proper record thereof; whereupon the said Commissioners may organize themselves into a Board of Police for the said "The Metropolitan Police District," and assume control of the police force thereof.

§ 4. The officers of the Board of Police shall be a president and treasurer, who shall each be selected from among the said Commissioners. The Board shall have power to appoint a chief clerk and six deputy clerks for the said districts. who shall hold office at the pleasure of the said Board. The principal office of the Board shall be located in such part of the said "The Metropolitan Police District" as may be deemed most advisable and convenient for the transaction of business. The said office shall be rented by the Board, and the Superintendent of Police, hereafter created, shall have office accommodations in the same building with that occupied by the said Board. The office accommodations for the two Deputy Superintendents of Police, hereinafter created, may be, at the discretion of the Commissioners, located in any part of the district, except that one Deputy Superintendent of Police shall have office accommodations in the city of Brooklyn.

§ 5. It shall be the duty of the Board of Police hereby constituted, at all times of the day and night, within the boundaries of the said " The Metropolitan Police

District," to preserve the public peace, to prevent crime, and arrest offenders; to protect the rights of persons and property, to guard the public health, to preserve order at every primary and public election; to remove nuisances existing ia public streets, roads, places and highways; to provide a proper police force at every fire, in order that thereby the firemen and property may be protected : to protect strangers and travelers at steamboat and ship landings, and railway sta tions; to see that all laws relating to the observance of Sunday, and regarding pawnbrokers, mock-auctions, emigrants, elections, gambling, intemperance, lottery policies, vagrants, disorderly persons, and the public health, are properly enforced; and to obey and enforce all ordinances of Common Councils and Boards of Supervisors, and town and village authorities within the said "The Metropolitan Police District," which are applicable to police or health.

§ 6. The said duties of the Board of Police shall be more especially executed under the direction and control of said Board, and according to rules and regulations, which it is hereby authorized to pass, from time to time, for the more proper government and discipline of its subordinate officers, by a police force for the whole of the said "The Metropolitan Police District;" and authorized to do duty in any part thereof, without regard to residence or county lines. The said police force shall consist of a general superintendent of police, and two deputy superintendents of police; five surgeons of police, and so many inspectors or captains of police, not to exceed forty; so many sergeants of police, not to exceed one hundred and fifty; and so many police patrolmen as may be determined upon by the Board of Supervisors of the county of New York, to be appointed as a quota of the patrol force, to be paid for by said county; and as many police patrolmen as may be determined upon by the Common Council of the city of Brooklyn, to be appointed as a quota of the patrol force, to be paid for by the city of Brooklyn; and so many police patrolmen as may be determined upon by the Supervisors of the towns of the county of Kings, not included within the municipal jurisdiction of the city of Brooklyn, to be appointed as a quota of the police force, to be paid for by said towns of the county of Kings; and as many police patrolmen as may be determined upon by the Supervisors of the counties of Richmond and Westchester, to be appointed as a quota of the patrol force, to be paid for by said counties respectively, in the mode and manner hereinafter provided; and the aforesaid authorities may, from time to time, increase or diminish the number of patrolmen; and, until otherwise provided for as aforesaid, the said quota of patrol force for the county of New York, and for the county of Kings, shall be of the number of patrolmen now existing by law in the cities of New York and Brooklyn. The said offices hereby created for the said police force shall be severally filled by appointment from the Board of Police, in the mode prescribed by this act; and, each person so appointed shall hold office only during such time as he shall faithfully observe and execute all the rules and regulations of the said board, the laws of the state, and the ordinances existing within the district enacted by the city, county, town, and village authorities within the same, and which ordinances apply to such part of the district where the members of the police force may be on duty.

§ 7. The qualifications, enumeration and distribution of duties, mode of trial,

and removal from office of each officer of said police force, shall be particularly defined and prescribed by the rules and regulations of the Board of Police, in accordance with the constitution and laws of this state; provided, however, that no person shall be so appointed to office, or hold office in the police force aforesaid, who cannot read and write the English language, or who is not a citizen of the United States, or who shall not have resided within the said "The Metropolitan Police District," during a term of five years next preceding his appointment, or who shall ever have been convicted of crime; and provided that no person shall be removed therefrom, except upon written charges preferred against him to the Board of Police, and after an opportunity shall have been afforded him of being heard in his defence; and provided, that whenever any vacancy shall occur as inspector of police, the same shall be filled by an appointment from among the persons then in office as sergeants of police; and a like vacancy in the office of sergeants of police shall be filled by appointment from among the persons then in office as patrolmen.

§ 8. The members of the police force of the said, "The Metropolitan Police District" 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 the said, "The Metropolitan Police District," without any backing or indorsement of the said warrant, and according to the terins 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 act. The general and deputy superintendents and inspectors or captains of police, having just cause to suspect that any felony has been, or is being, or is about to be committed within any building, or on board of any ship, boat or vessel within the said, "The Metropolitan Police District," may enter upon the same at all hours of the day and night, to take all necessary measures for the effectual preservation or detection of all felonies, and may take then and there into custody all persons suspected of being concerned in such felonies, and also may take charge of all property, which he or they shall have then and there just cause to suspect has been stolen.

§ 9. If the general superintendent of police shall report in writing to the Board of Police that there are good grounds for believing any house or room within the said "The Metropolitan Police District" to be kept or used as a common gaming house or cock-pit, and if two or more householders, dwelling within the said district and not belonging to the Metropolitan Police aforesaid, shall make oath in writing before any one of the commissioners of police, and annexed to the said report, (which oath every commissioner of police is hereby empowered to administer, receive and subscribe,) that the premises complained of by the general superintendent of police, are commonly reported and believed by the deponents to be kept as a common gaming house or cock-pit, it shall be lawful for any commissioner of police, by order in writing, to authorize the said general superintendent, or either deputy superintendent of police, to enter upon such premises, together with such members of the patrol force as shall be directed