Degree Research Project - NYPD Trophy Guns - Update

[RM Vivas]

My degree thesis on Trophy Guns is progressing.

To make it fit within the parameters of what the History department is looking for, I can not provide just a historical background. There has to be some sort of almighty overarching question that the research desperately answers.

I don't agree with this concept but it's their rules and their game, so I go along with them.

The approved thesis statement is:

Thesis Statement
From 1917 to 1973 the New York City Police Department (NYCPD) awarded engraved revolvers to members of each graduating Police Academy class. Over the 56 years that this practice spanned, these awards, known as Trophy Guns, were awarded for a variety of accomplishments during training.
Of the various Trophy Guns awarded, the earliest, most consistently awarded and most prestigious was the Bloomingdale Trophy.
Sponsored by Hiram C. Bloomingdale of Bloomingdale department store fame (later Federated Department Stores), the Bloomingdale Trophy was the first Trophy Gun awarded.
Unlike some of the other Trophy Guns that came later and whose criteria changed with political winds, the Bloomindale Trophy remained consistent in its eligibility requirements: it was to be awarded to the top member of each graduating class who had the highest combined scores in "...physical and mental studies...". It was for all intents and purposes a valedictorians' gun.
An examination of the careers and accomplishments of these Bloomingdale Trophy recipients shows that they were more likely than their classmates to reach the heights of the department and to do so sooner. Being a Trophy Gun recipient marked one as being one of the best and brightest and destined for bigger things within the Department as ones' career advanced.

This then leads to all sort of stuff that isn't really relevant for our gun collecting purposes.

However, in order to assess whether these Trophy Gun winners were more likely than their peers to be 'raised up', it was necessary to try and create a short biography for each recipient.

I've attached a copy of the Appendix for the paper that lists the career biographies. It is not yet complete and it is hampered by a decided lack of source material.

Eventually, I hope to have the make model and serial number for each gun to match to the individual officer.

This paper only focuses on the Bloomingdale Trophy winners; when I'm done with the class I'll start folding in all the other Trophy Gun winners.

 

[mikerjf]

Looks like a great project. As someone who spent significant time on genealogy and "wrote the book", I understand the drive to document history in a way that preserves the data for others. Carry on!

 

[two-bit cowboy]

My degree thesis on Trophy Guns is progressing.

.... There has to be some sort of almighty overarching question that the research desperately answers.

I don't agree with this concept but it's their rules and their game, so I go along with them.

Welcome to the world of academia. Been there, and, like you, I complied.

What is the question you're striving an answer?

Related to this? -- "An examination of the careers and accomplishments of these Bloomingdale Trophy recipients shows that they were more likely than their classmates to reach the heights of the department and to do so sooner."

Fascinating theory. Is material available to prove the trophy recipients outpaced their peers? I don't mean from the recipients' success, but rather from their peers' progression through their careers. Seems a daunting challenge.

 

[CALREB]

Well, it looks to me after a cursory reading of the bios of the "Trophy" gun winners it shows they were typical of the average police officer . A few that scored high had somewhat quick promotion. More than likely due to who they were being sponsored by politically or dept wise. Several promoted well even after shooting innocent people or being involved in misconduct. Again refer to the sponsor or political backing. The best and fastest rising , later fired for an offense.One murderer and some criminal offenses. Most made some promotion after time on the job, which is a norm. Many more had average careers. Like Chief Gates used to say, as long as you have to recruit from the human race, you are going to get a few bad apples, or words similar to those. Most Police recruits dont find themselves for a few years after the academy . Top recruits at the academy are typically ex military or law enforcement, or physically gifted, so they can concentrate on academics without concern about the PT portion. After about 5 years on the job , people figure it out and either start taking promotion test, or find a niche they get into. There are always some PATROL DOGS, that work the street their entire career because they love it, God Bless Them... Just my thoughts after almost 40 years LEO, last 23 teaching at the Academy , watching probably 6000 -7000 at least, recruits and their careers..good luck..

 

[CH4]

Interesting subject for a thesis. As a criminal justice professor, I'd be interested in reading it sometime. Undergrad or grad program?

 

[Baggy Wrinkle]

One could ask a similar question about graduates of the Federal military academies. Do the top graduates rise through the ranks faster? Eisenhower and Custer did not graduate at the top of their classes; McArthur and Lee did as did Rickover. A friend of mine was the senior officer in his class, a Vice Admiral, yet graduated in the middle of the group. A member of that same class reverted to the following class due to academic problems yet retired as a Rear Admiral. So, from anecdotal evidence, there doesn't seem to be a correlation between graduation precedence and career success in the military and probably not in the police.

 

[RM Vivas]

Welcome to the world of academia. Been there, and, like you, I complied.

What is the question you're striving an answer?

Related to this? -- "An examination of the careers and accomplishments of these Bloomingdale Trophy recipients shows that they were more likely than their classmates to reach the heights of the department and to do so sooner."

Fascinating theory. Is material available to prove the trophy recipients outpaced their peers? I don't mean from the recipients' success, but rather from their peers' progression through their careers. Seems a daunting challenge.

The working title is: Trophy Cops:
An Analysis of Training Awards as a Predictor of Career Advancement Within The NYCPD

The question:
Were Bloomingdale Trophy Gun winners more likely to advance to a position within the Department higher and faster than their peers?

It's really mostly statistics. We look at 40,000 graduates and 200 are valedictorians. Of those 200, say, %80 percent wind up in supervisory positions. A breakdown of the departments Table of Organization & Equipment/Manning charts, say that %60 of the department is made up of Patrolman, %15 SGT, %10 LT, etc. etc. For this group of 200 to be %80 bosses does seem to say something.

I have a chapter on the methodology I use, but its not done yet.

RM Vivas

 

[SG-688]

One could ask a similar question about graduates of the Federal military academies. ......

Because reviews of the book were fun to read, I once attempted
Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point by James S. Robbins.

It was so tedious in the extensive details of each goat's history that I gave it up.

 

[RM Vivas]

Interesting subject for a thesis. As a criminal justice professor, I'd be interested in reading it sometime. Undergrad or grad program?

Undergrad and then I hope to find a Master program somewhere.

RM Vivas

 

[RM Vivas]

Well, it looks to me after a cursory reading of the bios of the "Trophy" gun winners it shows they were typical of the average police officer . A few that scored high had somewhat quick promotion. More than likely due to who they were being sponsored by politically or dept wise. Several promoted well even after shooting innocent people or being involved in misconduct. Again refer to the sponsor or political backing. The best and fastest rising , later fired for an offense.One murderer and some criminal offenses. Most made some promotion after time on the job, which is a norm. Many more had average careers. Like Chief Gates used to say, as long as you have to recruit from the human race, you are going to get a few bad apples, or words similar to those. Most Police recruits dont find themselves for a few years after the academy . Top recruits at the academy are typically ex military or law enforcement, or physically gifted, so they can concentrate on academics without concern about the PT portion. After about 5 years on the job , people figure it out and either start taking promotion test, or find a niche they get into. There are always some PATROL DOGS, that work the street their entire career because they love it, God Bless Them... Just my thoughts after almost 40 years LEO, last 23 teaching at the Academy , watching probably 6000 -7000 at least, recruits and their careers..good luck..

Unless its really vital to the result, I try not to characterize WHY people retired.

Apparantly in the 1950's there was a HUGE issue with bookmakers paying off cops. There were a number of investigations and quite a few news articles about higher ups putting in their retirement papers one or two days before the appearance date on a subpoena they'd received. -Generally -speaking, if you were a DI or better and retired between 1950 and 1955, you were trying to outdistance a grand jury.

It's worth noting that the one cop who got dismissed for moonlighting also jumped from SGT to CPT in five years and commanded a Pct at 34 y/o! And picked up a law degree at night. And that was after being an LT in the Merchant Marine in WW2 before he came on 'da Job.

Another guy was a Notre Dame grad and was a LTCOL in Patton's 3rd Army before hitting the streets at 33 y/o!

If you read between the lines, you can see a lot of "who you know" in some of these bios.

RM Vivas

 

[Jack Murphy]

My degree thesis on Trophy Guns is progressing.

To make it fit within the parameters of what the History department is looking for, I can not provide just a historical background. There has to be some sort of almighty overarching question that the research desperately answers.

I don't agree with this concept but it's their rules and their game, so I go along with them.

The approved thesis statement is:

Thesis Statement
From 1917 to 1973 the New York City Police Department (NYCPD) awarded engraved revolvers to members of each graduating Police Academy class. Over the 56 years that this practice spanned, these awards, known as Trophy Guns, were awarded for a variety of accomplishments during training.
Of the various Trophy Guns awarded, the earliest, most consistently awarded and most prestigious was the Bloomingdale Trophy.
Sponsored by Hiram C. Bloomingdale of Bloomingdale department store fame (later Federated Department Stores), the Bloomingdale Trophy was the first Trophy Gun awarded.
Unlike some of the other Trophy Guns that came later and whose criteria changed with political winds, the Bloomindale Trophy remained consistent in its eligibility requirements: it was to be awarded to the top member of each graduating class who had the highest combined scores in "...physical and mental studies...". It was for all intents and purposes a valedictorians' gun.
An examination of the careers and accomplishments of these Bloomingdale Trophy recipients shows that they were more likely than their classmates to reach the heights of the department and to do so sooner. Being a Trophy Gun recipient marked one as being one of the best and brightest and destined for bigger things within the Department as ones' career advanced.

This then leads to all sort of stuff that isn't really relevant for our gun collecting purposes.

However, in order to assess whether these Trophy Gun winners were more likely than their peers to be 'raised up', it was necessary to try and create a short biography for each recipient.

I've attached a copy of the Appendix for the paper that lists the career biographies. It is not yet complete and it is hampered by a decided lack of source material.

Eventually, I hope to have the make model and serial number for each gun to match to the individual officer.

This paper only focuses on the Bloomingdale Trophy winners; when I'm done with the class I'll start folding in all the other Trophy Gun winners.

I've run across a 1903 S&W Hand ejector. Bloomingdale Trophy Ptl. Robert Raben Dec 5th 1946. curious if you have anything on him

 

[RM Vivas]

Can you email me an image and serial number. Pretty sure I have some stuff on him.

[email protected]

Best,
RM Vivas