Innovate Technology

Innovate Technology and Police Services to Protect the Public and the Police

From providing the first bullet resistant vests for members of the Department and ensuring the survival of the NYPD Mounted Unit in the 70s, to piloting new light weight ballistic vests and securing PPE in the 2020s, the support of the Police Foundation has proved vital to the members of the NYPD.

Throughout its history, the Police Foundation has invested in training programs, crime fighting tools, and public safety programs – prioritizing officer health and wellness and working with the public to keep neighborhoods safe. For decades, these efforts made a significant impact here on the streets of New York City, changing the way the NYPD fights crime.

In 2015, the Police Foundation funded the first body-worn camera pilot program for the NYPD, leading to more police transparency. The project was instrumental in the Department being one of the first police departments in the nation to purchase the equipment.

In 2019, the Police Foundation piloted a new Neighborhood Policing app in six precincts that helps the NYPD identify, log, track, and address community complaints. The app creates a mobile case management system for police, allowing officers to view the full history of a complaint. Following a successful pilot, the NYPD is implementing the app citywide.

The Foundation provided a grant to the NYPD to help establish the Real-Time Crime Center, a centralized data hub that rapidly mines information from multiple crime databases and disseminates that information to officers in the field.

In 2021, the Foundation announced a $1 million grant program, ‘50 Grants for 50 Precincts‘, to encourage innovative new initiatives within NYPD precincts. The program solicits proposals that promote officer wellness, support community engagement efforts, honor fallen officers, and other ideas that serve the needs of a local precinct and its community.

The Foundation purchased the first bullet-resistant vests for 18,000 service members before becoming standard issue in the 1970s. The Foundation continued to support the NYPD with bullet-resistant vests, most recently purchasing 550 new light-weight detective vests for the Detectives Vest Pilot Program in 2019.

• The Police Foundation provides gym equipment for the NYPD Cardiovascular Fitness Centers and Command Gyms, which are essential to officers’ mental and physical conditioning.
• The Foundation worked to enhance information technology and supplemented personnel services in the NYPD with an investment in cutting-edge software, hand-held scanners, and upgraded database securities and infrastructure between 2011-2013.
• In 2013, the NYPD embarked on a major initiative to expand its ability to videotape post-arrest interrogations throughout the city. The Foundation provided funding to refurbish 23 facilities in Queens and the Bronx and furnish them with technical equipment through the NYPD Video Interrogation Project.
• The Foundation purchased a new AEV Trauma Hawk Ambulance and equipment for the NYPD to transport and provide medical support to current and former Department personnel and their immediate family members.
• The Foundation provided funding for the Times Square Substation, a state-of-the-art building that helps advance the Department’s security efforts for the hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors who pass through the area every day. It is also a dynamic mechanism from which the NYPD can share information and engage with the public significantly.
• The Foundation funded the creation of a new digital video recording studio at Police Headquarters to support the NYPD’s ever-increasing need to disseminate digital media communications to the city’s communities and the Department members during emergencies.

The Foundation does not purchase weapons (military or other) or ammunition of any kind for the police department