New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit

New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit
Common name	NYPD Emergency Service Unit
Abbreviation	NYPD ESU
Patch of the New York City Police Department ESU unit, worn on the left side of ESU uniforms
Patch of the New York City Police Department, worn on the right side of ESU uniforms only
Flag of the New York City Police Department
Motto	"At Your Service... Anything, Anytime, Anywhere!"
Agency overview
Formed	1920
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	City of New York in the state of New York, USA
Map of New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit's jurisdiction.
Size	1,214.4 km²
Population	8,274,527
Legal jurisdiction	New York City
General nature	Law enforcement Civilian agency
Operational structure
Police Officers	Approx. 500
Police Commissioner responsible	Raymond W. Kelly
Agency executive	Deputy Chief James Molloy, Commanding Officer
Parent agency	New York City Police Department
Boroughs	List Manhattan Brooklyn Queens Bronx Staten Island
Facilities
Squads	11 ESS #1 - Lower Manhattan ESS #2 - Upper Manhattan ESS #3 - East and South Bronx ESS #4 - West and North Bronx ESS #5 - Staten Island ESS #6 - South Brooklyn ESS #7 - East Brooklyn ESS #8 - North Brooklyn ESS #9 - South Queens ESS #10 - North Queens ESS #11 - Assigned to ESU Headquarters
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

The New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit is the Emergency Service Unit (ESU) for the New York City Police Department. A component of the Special Operations Division of the Patrol Services Bureau, the unit provides specialized support and advanced equipment to other NYPD units. For example, its Canine Unit helps with searches for perpetrators and missing persons. The Emergency Service Unit also functions as a Special Weapons and Tactical Unit (SWAT) and NYPD hostage negotiators assist and secure the safety of hostages. Members of "ESU" are cross trained in multiple disciplines for police and rescue work. They are always on patrol (all three tours, 365 days a year) with 10 Heavy Rescue trucks, each manned by a police officer and a sergeant, and often more than twice as many smaller Radio Emergency Patrol vehicles containing two ESU police officers. There are also two or more patrol Sergeants or Lieutenants in unmarked vehicles on duty at all times to supervise ESU operations where needed. These are called "U-Cars" on the NYPD radio, for example, "U-5".

Field organizations

The ten Emergency Service Squads (ESS) are divided geographically as:

Emergency Service Squads (or Trucks):

• ESS-1 (Lower Manhattan),
• ESS-2 (Upper Manhattan),
• ESS-3 (East and South Bronx),
• ESS 4 (West and North Bronx),
• ESS-5 (Staten Island),
• ESS-6 (South Brooklyn),
• ESS-7 (East Brooklyn),
• ESS-8 (North Brooklyn) - REP truck,
• ESS-9 (South Queens) - Heavy Rescue Truck,
• ESS-10 (North Queens) - REP truck, and
• ESS-11 (Assigned to ESU Headquarters).
• ESS-14 Hazmat/Rescue Truck.

ESS-11 is not a patrol squad but a vehicle manned by trainers and support staff assigned to ESU headquarters at Floyd Bennett Field and can respond to nearby incidents or as back-up to other Emergency Service Squads when required.

Lieutenants are city wide patrol supervisors who are assigned to patrol multiple "trucks", They patrol as either U-5 (Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island), or U-4, (Manhattan and the Bronx) respond to major incidents within their assigned boroughs for the shift.

The ESU Canine Unit maintains 36 dogs-handler teams which include three bloodhounds and several dogs cross-trained in cadaver recovery. The ESU canines are an integral part of the US-TF1 Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Team as deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Vehicles

The Emergency Service Unit currently utilizes numerous vehicles including:

• Eleven Heavy Rescue trucks which are referred to as "Trucks". Trucks 1-10 were built by Saulsbury Fire Apparatus (now part of E-One).^[1] Truck 11 was built by Ferrara Fire Apparatus.^[2]

• 40 Radio Emergency Patrol (REP) trucks which are ESU's work horse and are used for regular patrol. Each REP is equipped with scba gear, medical kits and rescue equipment including heavy hydraulics. REP trucks are built by Odyssey Specialty Automotive.^[3][4]

• ESU's Medical Squad mans two ambulances.^[5]

• Two Lenco BearCat and two Lenco Peacekeeper armored vehicles.

• 14 portable light tower generator units stationed throughout the city. In addition to the towers, ESU can also deploy 60Kw, 90Kw, 100Kw and 200Kw generators upon request for additional power when required.

• Four Mobile Light Generators which are specialized light-power units with tower generators mounted in the bed of pickup trucks.^[6]

• 100Kw mobile generator trucks designated as Mobile Auxiliary Light Truck (MALT)s. It has the capability of supplying enough power to light up Grand Central Station.^[7]

• Construction Accident Response Vehicles (CARV) which responds to construction accidents and is used to stabilize structures and rescue entrapped workers/personnel.^[8]

• Emergency Support Vehicle (ESV) which is complete with a motorized Zodiac inflatable and deployable rescue airbag.^[9][10]

• ESU also has six jet skis, plus numerous Zodiac inflatables assigned to units throughout the NYPD.

• 

  NYPD ESU Heavy Rescue Truck 9

• 

  2 NYPD ESU REP trucks from ESS 10

Recruitment

A NYPD ESU Emergency Medical Squad patch

The personnel selected for ESU become highly trained, elite members of the NYPD who perform rescue, SWAT and other high risk tactical, counter-narcotic and counter-terror operations.

There are minimum time-in-grade requirements before an NYPD officer can apply to transfer to ESU. In addition, all ESU candidates must be approved by a group of current ESU members to ensure that they will integrate into the unit successfully.

Casualties/line of duty deaths

ESU lost more members (14 out of 23 NYPD officers) than any other NYPD unit during the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.

Gallery

• 

  NYPD ESU at the site of the World Trade Center as part of Rescue and recovery effort after the September 11, 2001 attacks

ESU in popular culture

• The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
• Leon (also known as The Professional and Léon: The Professional)
• The Bone Collector
• Phone Booth (film)
• Inside Man
• 16 Blocks
• True Blue (TV series)
• Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes from Liberty City, Liberty City's N.O.O.S.E. is based on Homeland Security's tactical units and the NYPD ESU.
• Blue Bloods (2010)

Also seen extensively in:

• NYPD Blue
• Law & Order and its various spinoffs
  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, L&O: SVU
  • Law & Order: Criminal Intent, L&O:CI
  • Law & Order: Trial by Jury
• Third Watch
• CSI: NY

See also

• SWAT
• New York City Police Department
• Iman Morales Taser incident

References

1. ^ NYPD ESU Heavy Rescue truck
2. ^ NYPD ESU Heavy Rescue truck 11
3. ^ NYPD ESU REP
4. ^ NYPD ESU REP
5. ^ NYPD ESU Ambulance
6. ^ NYPD ESU light truck
7. ^ NYPD MALT truck
8. ^ NYPD ESU CARV truck
9. ^ NYPD ESV truck
10. ^ NYPD ESV truck

E-Man: Life in the NYPD Emergency Services Unit (Paperback) by Jerry Schmetterer and Al Sheppard

External links

• NYPD Homepage
• ESU officers
• IMDB article on NYPD Emergency Service Unit (2000) A TV documentary.