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¶ A crime laboratory that is second largest in the world (after the FBI's); a 3,700,000-card fingerprint file that also ranks second.
¶ A 185-man narcotics squad, second to the Federal Government's, to keep track of 23,000 known drug addicts and to head off the traffic to 15,000 additional users.
¶ Personnel Records Unit that catalogues each cop's skills, hobbies and qualifications on an IBM card, can in minutes mechanically thumb 24,000 cards and flick out names of policemen who understand Tagalog or Tonkinese or deaf-mute sign language, who are tall enough (6 ft. 3 in.) to form an honor guard for England's visiting Queen Elizabeth II, who know bees well enough (twelve do) to handle the swarm that appeared suddenly last month in Brooklyn.
¶ 42-man confidential squad that reports directly to Kennedy, spies on the rest of the department with Minifones, movie cameras and tape recorders to catch crooked cops in acts of dishonesty and keep the rest of the department as close as possible at the side of the angels.*
"Check the Wool." During this summer's siege against juvenile delinquency, a key police department unit is the youth squad, 144 detectives who cruise New York City's five boroughs in unmarked sedans and concentrate on teen-age activities and spots of action. Routinely the youth squad checks bars for underage patrons, community centers, parks, dances and picnics for teen-age trouble. Swiftly they check out tips on approaching "rumbles," i.e., fights between New York's organized gangs. After one such tour with Deputy Inspector Peter Costello, youth squad commander, and Detectives William Kelly and Frank Rochman, a TIME correspondent reported:
We headed east across town, past the filthy, begrimed tenement brownstones where families loiter on the front stoops in the evening warmth, through the smelly, crowded section east of Park Avenue and over to East End Avenue. East River Drive was deserted. But near by, lolling against a slum tenement, were 25 boys and about ten girls, mostly Italian.
"O.K., you guys," said Costello, "what's going on here? Line up against the wall, and we'll see."
The kids faced the wall, and Costello, Kelly and Rochman frisked them skillfully. There were no weapons. The kids snickered.
"They never carry them," explained Costello. "They stash them near by so they'll be ready. If we caught weapons on them, they'd be liable for unlawful assembly, but they're clean. They knew we can't frisk the girls. If we thought they were carrying something, we'd call for a policewoman quick."
Turning to Detective Rochman, Costello ordered: "Check the wool on 'em, Frank." Rochman ran his hands through the hair of both the boys and girls, looking for concealed razor blades, found none. The cops rolled on.