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About the New York
Police Department (NYPD): The first law-enforcement officer began to patrol the trails and paths of New York City when it was known as New
Amsterdam, and was a Dutch settlement and fort in the year 1625. This lawman was known as a "Schout – fiscal"
(sheriff – attorney) and was charged with keeping the peace, settling minor disputes, and warning colonists if fires
broke out at night. The first Schout was a man named Johann Lampo. The Rattle Watch was a group of colonists during the Dutch era (1609 - 1664) who patrolled from
sunset until dawn. They carried weapons, lanterns and wooden rattles (that are similar to the ratchet noisemakers used during
New Year celebrations). The rattles made a very loud, distinctive sound and were used to warn farmers and colonists of threatening
situations. Upon hearing this sound, the colonists would rally to defend themselves or form bucket-brigades to put out fires.
The rattles were used because whistles had not yet been invented. The Rattle Watchmen also are believed to have carried lanterns
that had green glass inserts. This was to help identify them while they were on patrol at night (as there were no streetlights
at that time). When they returned to their Watch House from patrol, they hung their lantern on a hook by the front door to
show that the Watchman was present in the Watch House. Today, green lights are still hung outside the entrances of Police
Precincts as a symbol that the "Watch" is present and vigilant. When the High Constable of New York City, Jacob Hays retired from service in 1844, permission was
granted by the Governor of the state to the Mayor of the City to create a Police Department. A force of approximately 800
men under the first Chief of Police, George W. Matsell, began to patrol the City in July of 1845. They wore badges that had
an eight-pointed star (representing the first 8 paid members of the old Watch during Dutch times). The badges had the seal
of the City in their center and were made of stamped copper. Source: nycpolicemuseum.org /html/faq.html#begin
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Robert
Mladinich served 20 years with the New York Police Department, retiring as a detective. He is the twelfth
NYPD police officer to be added to Police-Writers.com. Robert earned a Bachelor of Science degree
from SUNY Brockport and currently services as the Communications Director for the Sergeant’s Benevolent Association. The Sergeants
Benevolent Association is comprised of approximately 10,000 active and retired sergeants of the New York City Police Department.
An independent union, it acts as the collective bargaining unit for those officers during contract negotiations with the City
of New York, and manages a variety of other projects – including health and welfare programs, political outreach efforts
and community service initiatives – for the benefit of its members and their families. The breadth of the association’s
activities is wide, but above all else, the SBA is an advocate for New York’s police sergeants, the officers who stand
at the Frontline of our nation’s largest metropolitan police department. Robert Mladinich’s
debut novel, From The Mouth Of The Monster: The Joel Rifkin Story, is the true crime story of a cop and a serial killer who
met in college and are bound together by fate. In 1979, the two met as journalism students.
Over two decades later, New York Police Department Detective Mladinich visited Rifkin in prison to examine what both
had made of their lives. And, to explore Rifkin’s savage murder of seventeen young women. In a chilling series of exchanges,
Rifkin bared his soul to Mladinich, chronicling his lost years: the missed opportunities, the failed relationships, and the
terrible details behind his killings. But Mladinich probed deeper, forcing Rifkin to confront the horrifying nature of his
crimes. Drawn from interviews with Rifkin and his mother, and conversations with acquaintances and professionals
who encountered him, From The Mouth Of The Monster is an exacting true-crime portrayal and a chilling study of the possible
evil within us all.
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