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• Full Finding Aid
• Overview
• Arrangement
• Administrative History
• Scope and Contents
• Other Finding Aids
• Access Restrictions
• Custodial History
• Access Terms

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New York State Division of State Police Blotters

Some content may contain outdated and offensive terminology. See: New York State Archives Statement on Language in Descriptive Resources

Overview of the Records

Arrangement

13445-10, 13445-20: Chronological.

Administrative History

When the Department of State Police was first organized in 1917, each of the original four Troops, following military and modern police practices, began maintaining a record of their activities in blotter form. As new Troops were added to the force, they too began maintaining their own blotters. During the 1920s and 1930s many patrol or substations were established throughout the state. Although these units reported to Troop Headquarters, they maintained their own blotters. After 1935, each Troop had a Bureau of Criminal Investigation Unit attached to it. These units were semi-autonomous, reporting directly to the Troop's captain. Consequently, these units maintained their own files and blotters.

Scope and Content Note

This series contains police blotters that were generated and originally kept by approximately 170 local State Police units. Blotters are a daily record of the activities of a Troop Headquarters or substation. They are maintained on an annual basis in bound volumes. The information recorded in the blotters usually concerns only the comings and goings of police officers, communication received and sent, and other routine activity. Descriptions of people and events are rare and when they do occur, are usually the verbatim report of a citizen, another police agency, or the State Police teletype system. The entries in the blotter are in short narrative form of usually one or two sentences and are factual in tone.

13445-20: This accretion contains records from Troop G, which serves the counties of Albany, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren, and Washington.

Other Finding Aids

Available at Repository

Name index in the back of most volumes.

13445-82, 13445-88, 13445-09, 13445-10, 13445-20: Volume list is available at the repository.

13445-85: Container list is available at the repository.

Custodial History

Police blotters had been annually transferred to a central location at the Division's headquarters in Albany. This seems to have been the practice from the beginning of the State Police, since General Order No. 1 (June 11, 1917) directed all Troop records to be forwarded to the Office of the Superintendent as directed.

13445-20: Volumes in this accretion were privately donated to the New York State Archives by a retired New York State Trooper.

Access Restrictions

Some information in the blotters may be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Law (Public Officers Law Art. 6).

Access Terms