Suffolk County, New York

In the United States, there is also a Suffolk County, Massachusetts.

For other places named "Suffolk," see Suffolk (disambiguation).

Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of 2000, the population was 1,419,369. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came. The county seat is Riverhead, though most county offices are in Hauppauge on the west side of the county where most of the population lives. There are also offices in Smithtown, for the legislature, and Yaphank.

Suffolk and Nassau counties are generally referred to as Long Island by area residents (as distinct from Brooklyn and Queens, both physically on Long Island but part of New York City). Suffolk County is the easternmost county in New York State and the New York Metropolitan Area. .

History

Suffolk County was an original county of New York State, one of twelve created in 1683. Its boundaries were substantially the same as at present, with only minor changes in the boundary with its western neighbor, which was originally Queens County but since 1899 has been Nassau County. However, as western Suffolk County has become more suburbanized there has been agitation by people living in the more rural East End of the island to divide Suffolk into two counties, with the easternmost part tentatively named Peconic County, after the Peconic Bay. Supporters of the idea believe that this would create a more efficient and responsive government and would give them a larger voice than they currently have in Suffolk County as it now stands, as well as lower taxes. Peconic County would tentatively include the towns of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton and Southold.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 6,146 km² (2,373 mi²). 2,363 km² (912 mi²) of it is land and 3,784 km² (1,461 mi²) of it (61.56%) is water.

Suffolk County occupies the easternmost portion of Long Island, in the southeastern portion of New York State. The eastern end of the county splits into two peninsulas, known as the North Fork and the South Fork. The county is surrounded by water on three sides, including the Atlantic Ocean and the Long Island Sound. The eastern end contains large bays. Suffolk County is divided into 10 towns: Babylon, Brookhaven, East Hampton, Huntington, Islip, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Smithtown, Southampton, and Southold. Adjacent Counties and areas: Nassau County, New York is on the western border. To the north is the Long Island Sound, and the State of Connecticut is on the opposite shore. To the east is Block Island Sound. The south boundary is the Atlantic Ocean.

Major facilities include Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton and Plum Island Animal Disease Center on Plum Island. Several airports serve commuters and business travelers, most notably Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, Republic Airport in East Farmingdale and Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach.

Law and government

**Presidential elections results**
Year	GOP	Dems
2004	48.5% ''309,949	49.5% ''315,909
2000	42.0% ''240,992	53.4% ''306,306
1996	36.1% ''182,510	51.8% ''261,828
1992	40.4% ''220,811	38.9% ''229,467
1988	60.5% ''311,242	38.7% ''199,215
1984	66.0% ''171,295	33.7% ''335,485
1980	57.0% ''256,294	33.3% ''149,945
1976	54.1% ''248,908	45.3% ''208,263
1972	70.3% ''316,452	29.4% ''132,441
1968	58.2% ''218,027	32.7% ''122,590
1964	44.4% ''144,350	55.5% ''180,598
1960	59.3% ''166,644	40.6% ''114,033

Suffolk County has long been a Republican bastion in New York. U.S. Congressman Rick Lazio, who opposed Hillary Clinton in the 2000 Senate Race was from Suffolk County. However, recent elections have turned the county more toward the Democrats. In 2003, Democrat Steve Levy was elected county executive, ending longtime Republican control. In 2001, Democrat Thomas Spota was elected District Attorney, and ran unopposed in 2005. Although Suffolk voters gave George H. W. Bush a victory here in 1992, the county voted for Bill Clinton in 1996 and continued the trend by giving Al Gore a large victory here in 2000 and John Kerry a smaller margin of victory in 2004.

Suffolk County is represented by three congressional districts, the first, second and part of the third. The former two seats are held by Democrats. Tim Bishop, a Democrat, represents the once heavily Republican first district, which includes almost half of the county, from Smithtown to Montauk, including The Hamptons and Riverhead. The second district, which includes Huntington, Brentwood and Bay Shore, is represented by Steve Israel. A Democrat, Israel won the seat vacated by Rick Lazio in 2000 when he made his unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. The third district, which is mainly in Nassau County, but includes some middle-class coastal areas of southwestern Suffolk County, is represented by Peter King, a Republican.

Democratic voters in Suffolk, as well as neighboring Nassau County have helped to turn New York into a solidly Democratic state.

Suffolk County Executives

**Suffolk County Executives**
Name	Party	Term
H. Lee Dennison	Democrat	1961–1973
John V.N. Klein	Republican	1973–1979
Peter F. Cohalan	Republican	1979–1986
Michael A. LoGrande*	Republican	1986–1987
Patrick G. Halpin	Democrat	1978–1987
Robert J. Gaffney	Republican	1991–2003
Steve Levy	Democrat	2003–Present

* Appointed to compete Cohalan's term

Suffolk County Legislature

The county is divided into 18 legislative districts, each represented by a legislator. As of 2006, there are 10 Democrats and 8 Republicans:

Edward P. Romaine (R)
Jay Schneiderman (R)
Kate M. Browning (WF)
Joseph T. Caracappa (R)
Vivian Viloria-Fisher (D)
Daniel P. Losquadro (R)
Jack Eddington (D)
William Lindsay (D)
Ricardo Montano (D)
Cameron Alden (R)
Thomas F. Barraga (R)
John M. Kennedy, Jr. (R)
Lynne Nowick (R)
Wayne R. Horsley (D)
Elie Mystal (D)
Steven H. Stern (D)
Louis D'Amaro (D)
Jon Cooper (D)

Republicans controlled the county legislature until a landmark election in November 2005 where three Republican seats switched to the Democrats, giving them control. William Lindsay is the current Presiding Officer of the legislature.

Suffolk County Police Department and Sheriff's Office

Prior to 1960, law enforcement in Suffolk County was the responsibility of local towns and villages. From the 17th century until well into the 20th century, many of these jurisdictions employed only part-time constables, who were usually appointed by local communities and paid to enforce court orders. Additional fees were paid for making arrests, serving warrants and transporting prisoners. Few of these constables had any formal law enforcement training, hours were often long and pay was low.

The New York State Police arrived on Long Island in 1917, and many towns and villages began forming their own small police forces soon thereafter. Training remained inadequate, however, and none of these forces were equipped to handle serious incidents or major crimes. Communication and cooperation between forces remained spotty.

The rapid suburbanization of the county following World War II, however, forced a change. Traffic and crime were increasing rapidly and the 33 separate law enforcement agencies operating within Suffolk County were being overwhelmed. Voices demanding a unified county police force, similar to the one already operating in neighboring Nassau County, New York, grew louder.

Following the passage in 1958 of state legislation creating the county executive form of government, a referendum was held on the creation of a county police force. The five western towns - Babylon, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown and Brookhaven - voted in favor. (The five eastern towns - Riverhead, Southold, Shelter Island, East Hampton and Southhampton - opted to retain their own police forces and do so to this day.) Thus, the former agreed to turn over all their police functions to the new agency. In addition to normal uniformed patrol services, the new agency agreed to provide: a Detective Bureau, a Communications Bureau, an Identification Bureau, a Central Records Bureau, a Police Laboratory, and a Police Academy for training new officers.

All incumbent town and village police officers serving in those areas that voted to join the police district became members of the new department without further examination or qualification. In addition, state troopers serving on Long Island who so desired could request appointment to the new force. Criminal investigators in the district attorney's office were appointed the new detectives. The serving town and village police chiefs were typically appointed inspectors, deputy chiefs or assistant chiefs in the new department. The remaining positions were filled by competitive civil service examinations. The Suffolk County Police Department officially came into being on Jan. 1, 1960 with 619 sworn members.

Today, the department has a strength of around 2,500 sworn officers, making it one of the largest county police agencies in the country. In addition to officers, the department also employs 500 civilians, ranging from clerks to lab technicians, as well as nearly 400 school crossing guards. In addition to the services it provided at the beginning, the county police now provides an aviation unit equipped with helicopters, a marine unit that patrols Long Island Sound as well as the Great South Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, a scuba team that searches waterways for bodies and evidence of criminal activity, an arson/bomb squad, a highway unit that patrols the Long Island Expressway, and an emergency service unit that provides confined space and high-level rescue capability, hazardous materials response, and heavy weapons back-up to patrol officers.

The Suffolk County Police have been involved in investigations of several well-known and notorious crimes and incidents, including the Amityville Horror murder case, as well as the crash and recovery of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.

In recent years, Suffolk officers have become well-known in the New York area for their exceptionally high rate of pay, especially as compared with the New York City Police Department. As a result, numerous NYPD officers have left the city force and joined the Suffolk department.^*

The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office is a totally seperate agency that runs the two Suffolk County correctional facilities (Yaphank and Riverhead), provides county courthouse security and detention, service and enforcement of civil papers, evictions and warrants, etc. There is also a full-service patrol unit that assists the East End town and village police forces, in addition to having a K9 Unit, Marine Unit, Mounted Unit (the only horse police in Suffolk County), an Aviation Unit, Radar Enforcement Detail (similar to SCPD Highway Patrol), Bike Unit, ATV Unit and a SWAT-type unit called the Emergency Response Team (ERT). Suffolk County Sheriff's investigators also participate in various task forces and undercover assignments and also carry out various types of civil and criminal investigations.

As of 2006, the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office employs 300 deputy sheriffs and about 1,000 correction officers.

Demographics

As of the census ² of 2000, there were 1,419,369 people, 469,299 households, and 360,421 families residing in the county. The population density was 601/km² (1,556/mi²). There were 522,323 housing units at an average density of 221/km² (573/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 84.60% White, 6.94% African American, 0.27% Native American, 2.45% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 3.65% from other races, and 2.06% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.53% of the population. Some main European ancestries in Suffolk county as of 2000: 28.33% Italian, 22.02% Irish, 16.95% German and 5.98% English.

There were 469,299 households out of which 37.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.00% were married couples living together, 10.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.20% were non-families. 18.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96 and the average family size was 3.36.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.10% under the age of 18, 7.60% from 18 to 24, 31.20% from 25 to 44, 23.30% from 45 to 64, and 11.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 95.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $65,288, and the median income for a family was $72,112. Males had a median income of $50,046 versus $33,281 for females. The per capita income for the county was $26,577. About 3.90% of families and 6.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.70% of those under age 18 and 6.30% of those age 65 or over.

Suffolk County has the highest number of Italian Americans of any county in the U.S. with over 410,000 persons claiming Italian ancestry.

Colleges and universities

Suffolk County is home to numerous colleges and universities, including the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Dowling College, Southampton College, Saint Joseph's College and Suffolk County Community College.

Indian reservations

Two Indian reservations are located within the borders of Suffolk County:

Towns, villages, and hamlets

In New York State, a town is the major subdivision of each county. Towns provide or arrange for most municipal services for residents of hamlets and selected services for residents of villages. All residents of New York who do not live in a city or on an Indian reservation live in a town. A village is an incorporated area which is usually, but not always, within a single town. A village is a clearly defined municipality that provides the services closest to the residents, such as garbage collection, street and highway maintenance, street lighting and building codes. Some villages provide their own police and other optional services. A hamlet is a populated area within a town that is not part of a village. The term "hamlet" is not defined under New York law (unlike cities, towns and villages), but is often used in the state's statutes to refer to well-known populated sections of towns that are not incorporated as villages. For more information, see the article Political subdivisions of New York State.

In 2006 Forbes Magazine ranked six Suffolk County zip codes as among the top 110 most expensive in the United States. Sagaponack, New York was ranked the most expensive zip code in the nation with a median home sale price in 2005 of $2,787,500. Water Mill, New York was ranked the sixth most expensive zip code in the nation, with a median home sale price in 2005 of $2,150,000.Forbes Lists ^*