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NYPD Emergency Service Unit
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NYPD Emergency Service Unit
The Emergency Service Unit (ESU) is part of the Special Operations Division of the New York City Police Department and was formed in 1930. The unit provides specialized police tactical support and advanced equipment to other NYPD units. Members of ESU are cross-trained in multiple disciplines for Special Weapons and Tactics, barricaded subjects, hostage rescue missions, high risk search warrants, technical rescue and emergency medical service alongside law enforcement support operations. NYPD ESU is generally considered to be the oldest police SWAT unit in the United States.
ESU is tasked with providing high risk search and arrest warrant service, hostage rescue, resolving barricaded subject situations, technical rescue, emergency medical service, police K9 support, and criminal HazMat and CBRNE handling. As of 2024, ESU consists of approximately 350 members, most of them police detective specialists, stationed across multiple squads, or “Trucks” divided by borough.
On July 7, 1925, Police Commissioner Richard E. Enright established the Emergency Automobile Squad (EAS), the forerunner to the modern ESU. The EAS was created to address the urbanization, motorization, and growth of New York City in the first quarter of the 20th century that left regular officers, who mostly conducted foot patrols, unable to address every call for service. The first two units, Squad 1 (Manhattan/Bronx) and Squad 2 (Brooklyn/Queens) were staffed by six sergeants and 44 officers.
In September 1926, Police Commissioner George McLaughlin formed Squad 3 (Bronx) and renamed the EAS to the Emergency Service Squad (ESS). In May 1928, Police Commissioner Joseph A. Warren doubled the number of existing units. By 1929, the ESS consisted of 11 trucks and was staffed by over 250 sergeants and patrolmen, with an additional nine trucks and over 200 more personnel scheduled to be added in January 1930.
From its inception, the Emergency Service Unit had been under the control of precinct commanders, who lacked the training and expertise necessary for the efficient use of the unit's manpower and equipment. On April 10, 1930, Police Commissioner Grover A. Whalen issued General Order #20, which created the Emergency Service Division and placed it under the command of Inspector Daniel E. Kerr.
Since its inception, ESU and its predecessors had highly trained, well-armed and experienced officers who served as the NYPD's SWAT Team.
The Apprehension Tactical Team, or “A-Team” is ESU’s full-time high risk warrant service detachment formally organized within ESU in 1989, although many high risk warrants are also executed by the various ESU trucks stationed in the boroughs of New York City.
ESU is always on patrol (all three tours, 365 days a year) with ten Heavy Rescue trucks, each ordinarily manned by an ESU Detective and a sergeant, and often more than twice as many smaller Radio Emergency Patrol vehicles containing two ESU members. There are also two or more citywide patrol sergeants or lieutenants in unmarked vehicles on duty at all times to supervise ESU operations where needed. These are called "U-Cars" over NYPD radio; they patrol as either U-5 (Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island) or U-4 (Manhattan, the Bronx) and respond to major incidents within their assigned boroughs for the tour.
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NYPD Emergency Service Unit
The Emergency Service Unit (ESU) is part of the Special Operations Division of the New York City Police Department and was formed in 1930. The unit provides specialized police tactical support and advanced equipment to other NYPD units. Members of ESU are cross-trained in multiple disciplines for Special Weapons and Tactics, barricaded subjects, hostage rescue missions, high risk search warrants, technical rescue and emergency medical service alongside law enforcement support operations. NYPD ESU is generally considered to be the oldest police SWAT unit in the United States.
ESU is tasked with providing high risk search and arrest warrant service, hostage rescue, resolving barricaded subject situations, technical rescue, emergency medical service, police K9 support, and criminal HazMat and CBRNE handling. As of 2024, ESU consists of approximately 350 members, most of them police detective specialists, stationed across multiple squads, or “Trucks” divided by borough.
On July 7, 1925, Police Commissioner Richard E. Enright established the Emergency Automobile Squad (EAS), the forerunner to the modern ESU. The EAS was created to address the urbanization, motorization, and growth of New York City in the first quarter of the 20th century that left regular officers, who mostly conducted foot patrols, unable to address every call for service. The first two units, Squad 1 (Manhattan/Bronx) and Squad 2 (Brooklyn/Queens) were staffed by six sergeants and 44 officers.
In September 1926, Police Commissioner George McLaughlin formed Squad 3 (Bronx) and renamed the EAS to the Emergency Service Squad (ESS). In May 1928, Police Commissioner Joseph A. Warren doubled the number of existing units. By 1929, the ESS consisted of 11 trucks and was staffed by over 250 sergeants and patrolmen, with an additional nine trucks and over 200 more personnel scheduled to be added in January 1930.
From its inception, the Emergency Service Unit had been under the control of precinct commanders, who lacked the training and expertise necessary for the efficient use of the unit's manpower and equipment. On April 10, 1930, Police Commissioner Grover A. Whalen issued General Order #20, which created the Emergency Service Division and placed it under the command of Inspector Daniel E. Kerr.
Since its inception, ESU and its predecessors had highly trained, well-armed and experienced officers who served as the NYPD's SWAT Team.
The Apprehension Tactical Team, or “A-Team” is ESU’s full-time high risk warrant service detachment formally organized within ESU in 1989, although many high risk warrants are also executed by the various ESU trucks stationed in the boroughs of New York City.
ESU is always on patrol (all three tours, 365 days a year) with ten Heavy Rescue trucks, each ordinarily manned by an ESU Detective and a sergeant, and often more than twice as many smaller Radio Emergency Patrol vehicles containing two ESU members. There are also two or more citywide patrol sergeants or lieutenants in unmarked vehicles on duty at all times to supervise ESU operations where needed. These are called "U-Cars" over NYPD radio; they patrol as either U-5 (Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island) or U-4 (Manhattan, the Bronx) and respond to major incidents within their assigned boroughs for the tour.
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