No NYPD uniform, but big role for plainclothes cops
They could be riding with unsuspecting New Yorkers on the subway. Or behind the wheel in a car in midtown Manhattan traffic. Or mingling with revelers at the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square.
They are the New York Police Department’s plainclothes officers — a legion of law enforcers with a mandate to blend into everyday life and spring into action at the earliest signs of trouble. It’s a less visible, proactive role that can run risks for police, as demonstrated by last weekend’s shooting of Officer Brian Moore.
Police officials won’t say exactly how many of the department’s roughly 20,000-officer patrol force turn out each day wearing street clothes instead of the NYPD’s dark blue uniform, though former officers and experts believe it’s well into the hundreds.