New York City Transit Police

Established in 1935, the New York City Transit Police Department was responsible for the protection of New York subway lines for 60 years. In 1949 the department was officially divorced from NYPD, but was eventually fully integrated in 1995.

One of the more controversial roles of the Transit Police was its defense of the subway system from what politicians saw as defacement. Graffiti art, one of the four elements of hip hop, was begun in the NYC subway system and was very prominent by the mid-1980s. In response to this, the city establishment took a hard line. The Transit Police and specifically a new unit called the Vandal Squad began to fine and arrest graffiti artists. They also made a policy to remove any work of graffiti within 24 hours of its creation.

By the end of the '80s the Transit Police had effectively solved the "problem" of graffiti in the subway system. To this day the Vandal Squad exists to prevent "the look of disorder" from over-running the city. Now commuters from the suburbs can go about their days happily without being reminded that they work in a city with people of a different culture.