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100 years of police history at Amityville Library
The display includes a host of photographs and items documenting the department's more than 100 years of service to Amityville. It was put together by Amityville Police Department Sgt. Brian Scott, who described it as a labor of love. His work resulted in the discovery of a number of items that many had thought had been destroyed over the years. "We had heard that most of the police blotter had been shredded, for example," said Scott. "I went down into the basement and discovered that the covers had been removed when the documents were put on to microfilm, but the pages were still there." Those pages document Amityville at a simpler time, when its police officers worked out of a booth on Broadway and devised their own "radar" system to catch speeders along Merrick Road, the area's main thoroughfare. It was a simple system where one police officer stood by as the observer, and another officer put out a rope and flags to stop a speeding car further down the road. When telephone service arrived, the department was hooked into Nassau County and New York City police departments. Many of the photographs and other items are through the generosity of the family of the late Chief William Kay who kept many scrapbooks throughout his career. Amityville's department was established in 1894 and organized officially in 1926. It quickly became known for its dedication to law and order, and legend has it that there was a sign posted on the Brooklyn Bridge to all drivers heading east: Beware of Amityville.
See it all at the Amityville Library.
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