{"id":318824,"date":"2025-10-20T15:06:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T15:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/318824\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T15:06:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T15:06:19","slug":"retired-nypd-officers-with-thousands-of-artifacts-advocate-for-opening-new-police-museum-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/318824\/","title":{"rendered":"Retired NYPD officers with thousands of artifacts advocate for opening new police museum in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"two\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Retired NYPD officer John Schroeder and Joe Marino want to open a NYC police museum. <\/p>\n

Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon<\/p>\n

The first police radio. An 1800s flashlight. A fingerprint kit from 1920. This is a small handful of the thousands of law enforcement artifacts that NYPD<\/a> historians have collected over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The items, along with nearly 1,500 NYPD artifacts, were on display at the 107th Precinct<\/a> in Queens on Sunday. Retired officer John Schroeder, co-founder of the makeshift Patrol Borough Queens South (PBQS) NYC Police Museum, organized the pop-up history event, which featured equipment, log books, photographs and technology dating as far back as before the American Civil War in the 1860s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During an interview with amNewYork, Schroeder showed off a case of authentic NYPD-issued firearms that officers had used since 1896, when Teddy Roosevelt was police commissioner before becoming the country\u2019s 26th President.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe standardized all the firearms in 1896,\u201d Schroeder said. \u201cBut before that time different officers had different guns, different calibers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Roosevelt made it so all officers<\/a> would carry a Colt .32 revolver.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"aThis motorcycle, on display at the pop-up event, was used by NYPD officers prior to 1950. These motorcycles were eventually replaced by Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which the department still uses today.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon<\/p>\n

Although guns have changed since the Roosevelt era, they remain standard throughout the department.<\/p>\n

Attendees to the pop-up show enjoyed learning facts about the world-famous department\u2019s past by talking with retired and active officers and browsing the displays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The items on display came from officers and their families who have meticulously collected historic pieces of the NYPD for decades.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the items on display here were graciously placed on loan by police officers and their families in the interest of trying to promote the NYPD and instill pride and honor in members and their families,\u201d Schroeder said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"threeVintage NYPD whistles, L to R: 1918 whistle designed by NYPD inspector Joseph Faurot; NYPD whistle, 1919, a surplus trench whistle from World War I; and a 1950s traffic whistle.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon<\/p>\n

Joe Marino, another co-founder of the museum, has five generations of family members in the NYPD \u2014 and a lot of artifacts with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started in January of 1856,\u201d he said. \u201cMy third great grandfather was a municipal police officer. When the municipals were thrown out of the city, they became metropolitan police.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NYC Police Department was formed in 1898, becoming today\u2019s NYPD.\n<\/p>\n

The police museum was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012<\/p>\n

While the PBQS museum is not a traditional museum in the sense that it has a building that is open to the public, the historians are hoping to change it so New Yorkers and tourists have a place to learn about the department\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my eyes, it\u2019s so important to recognize and not forget what officers have done in the past,\u201d Schroeder said.\u00a0
\n\"vintageVintage police gear on display during a pop-up NYPD history event at the 107th Precinct in Queens.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon\n<\/p>\n

The retired officers want to open an official museum for the NYPD. They want to fill the gap left after the first NYPD Museum in Lower Manhattan was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and never reopened. Right now, the officers and their families keep their collections at home or in a room at the 107th Precinct, only taking the items out for special events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schroeder and Marino have urged city officials and those involved with the destroyed museum to help them open a new location using their personal collections but have not heard back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are just trying to find a way to ensure that all these items are not just thrown in the trash, Schroeder said.\n<\/p>\n

amNewYork contacted the mayor\u2019s office and the NYPD to ask if the museum will reopen or if there are plans for a new one to open. According to. A spokesperson for the NYPD\u2019s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information said the museum is run by a nonprofit group, therefore the agency could not comment on the story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"aA vintage switchboard. Police would use this to field calls from the public and assign units. It was used primarily from the 1930s to 1970s.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon
\nPublic demand for a new police museum<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, public demand for an official police museum in NYC was strong at the pop-up event in the station house.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest police department in the world, and there\u2019s no police museum. It\u2019s disgusting,\u201d said Robert Lombardi, a father from Staten Island. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a place where people from other countries can learn about the department when they visit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also said it is important for children to learn about the city\u2019s history, including that of the NYPD, in school, at home and at museums.\u00a0
\n\"policeAn exhibit featuring examples of vintage drug paraphernalia.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon\n<\/p>\n

Al Baker, a retired NYPD Emergency Services Unit lieutenant, said he appreciates the officers\u2019 work in keeping alive the history of the department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NYPD is the greatest police department in the world in the greatest city in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s important, especially today, to preserve the history because culturally, we lose the tradition and the heritage of cops and what they were and where they came from. So this is important because it rekindles passion and excitement about the job.<\/p>\n

\"aThe Doelger Prize medal, made of 14K gold, was awarded to John M. O\u2019Leary of Traffic E in 1916. The item was on display at the pop-up event.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon<\/p>\n

Having an official police museum can also help get morale going again for a department that has sometimes been looked at unfavorably by the public.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore it can be a morale builder, it has to be understood,\u201d Baker said. \u201cAnd this fills in the background because the job changes so rapidly that the new people there is no institutional memory. The new people don\u2019t carry the memory. It\u2019s like starting over. When you start over and over, you lose the sense of the trail of it, the meaning of it\u201d<\/p>\n

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