Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police, or MTA Police, is the police agency of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Officers of the MTA Police are fully empowered under the New York State Public Authorities Law and are commissioned in the state of Connecticut. Their geographic area of employment extends to all counties in New York served by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, giving the MTA Police the ability to exercise full police authority within the counties of Dutchess, Putnam, Orange, Rockland, Westchester, Nassau, Suffolk, and the city of New York,

The MTA Police is not responsible for the New York City Subway. The subways are patrolled by the New York City Police Department (NYPD)'s Transit Bureau.

History

The department was formed in 1998, with the consolidation of the Long Island Rail Road Police and the Metro-North Railroad Police Departments. Since 9/11, the department has expanded in size and has ramped up dramatically its counter-terrorism capabilities, adding canine teams and emergency services officers. There are 1 lieutenant, 4 sergeants, and 44 police officers who are assigned to the K-9 Unit and serve as handlers with their canine partners. The department now has one of the best trained K-9 units in the United States. At a national competition in 2013, two MTA Police dogs took third and fourth place in explosives detection.