A number of proposals to create such a force during the early 1900s, but faced considerable opposition from trade union interests.

[3] Following the 1913 murder of Sam Howell, a construction foreman in Westchester County, and failure of the local police to arrest suspects he had named before his death, the New York State Legislature passed a bill to establish a state police force.

The division's first superintendent was George Fletcher Chandler, who was appointed by Governor Charles S. Whitman.

He was an early advocate of officers carrying their weapons exposed on a belt, which was not common practice at the time.

The New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center (FIC) opened in November 1996.

The Crime Laboratory performs DNA analysis for state investigations and for local law enforcement.

[5] Cuomo resigned in August 2021, and by January 2022, New York officials announced that the two police forces would remain separate.