[1] Prior to 1960, law enforcement in Suffolk County was the responsibility of local towns and villages as well as the New York State Police.

Following World War II, there was a push to unite the 33 separate law enforcement agencies then operating within Suffolk County.

[3][4] In 2011, the Suffolk County Police Department union formed a Super PAC called the Long Island Law Enforcement Foundation.

[4][5] In April 2016, county police officer Christopher McCoy pressured a female prisoner to have sex with him in an interrogation room.

[6] The US Justice Department sued Suffolk in 1983 for discriminating against women and people with minority racial identities in police hiring.

The county signed a consent decree three years later committing itself to increased minority hiring while denying any intentional discrimination.

In 2003, six female officers sued the department for sex discrimination over its pregnancy policy and won a judgment from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

[9] In 2006, a federal jury found that the Suffolk County Police Department had discriminated against female officers by denying them access to limited duty positions, for example, working the precinct desk, during their pregnancies.

[10] In 2006 Police Commissioner Richard Dormer announced that highway patrol and certain other units would undertake a pilot program whereby officers would record the race and/or ethnicity of drivers stopped for traffic violations.

[12] Suffolk County Police and their interrogation methods came under scrutiny due to the handling of the 1988 murder case of Seymour and Arlene Tankleff.

Lead Detective Kevin James (Jim) McCready used a ruse in which he claimed that Seymour Tankleff had regained consciousness and had indicated that his son Martin was responsible for the crime.

[16] In July 2011, a news reporter, Philip Datz, was arrested by an officer of the Suffolk County Police Department and charged with 'obstruction of governmental administration'.

According to the raw footage posted on YouTube,[17] the credentialed cameraman had been recording the aftermath of a police chase from the opposite side of the street while in a public area when he was approached by the officer and told to "go away" without revealing any cause or reason.

The settlement also requires the SCPD to pay Datz $200,000 and create a Police-Media Relations Committee to address problems between the press and the Police Department.

[23] Thomas Spota, the then-district attorney in Suffolk County, was convicted in December 2019 of conspiracy to cover up Burke's violent assault.

[22] In December 2016, an attorney for the family of Shannan Gilbert, who disappeared and was found dead in Oak Beach, reported that an escort had stated that she suspected that Burke might be connected to the Long Island serial killer cases.

The escort, who identified herself as "Leanne," stated that at one party she had attended in April 2011 in Oak Beach she had seen Burke drag a woman of Asian appearance by the hair to the ground.

[26] Burke was reported to have blocked an FBI probe of the Long Island serial killer case during his time as police chief.

In 2006, the department announced it would be staffing its public information unit entirely with civilians, thus freeing more officers to return to patrol duty.

The exception is the town of Brookhaven, whose sheer size (sprawling from Long Island Sound to the Atlantic Ocean) necessitated the establishment of two precincts, the 5th in Patchogue and the 6th in Selden (formerly Coram).

Due to population growth in the eastern part of Brookhaven, and deployment problems from the existing station houses caused by Long Island's perpetually traffic-choked roads and highways, another precinct (the 7th) was established in Shirley in the late 1990s.

[30] The department was responsible for policing the largest local government park system in the United States - 46,000 acres (190 km2) of parkland.

[30] The department covered 14 major parks, four golf courses, four marinas, seven camping facilities, more than 200 historic structures, two equestrian centers, four lifeguard protected beaches with 15 miles (24 km) of ocean front, picnic facilities for 20,000 people, and more than 600 miles (970 km) of nature trails.

Candidates interested in employment must pass the written civil service exam in order to begin the selection process.

Suffolk ESU, K-9, Crime Scene and Aviation officers also participated in the recovery effort at the World Trade Center site in September 2001.

[33] In an interview with Newsday, Robert Creighton, a former Suffolk County Police commissioner, said, "I have no recollection of anything as complex as this or as large as this."

"[34] As of July, 2023, a Manhattan architect named Rex Heuermann has been in custody suspected of at least 6 of the Gilgo Beach killings, as well as, at least 1 unrelated murder from the 1990's.

On the barrier beach, the Bureau operates four-wheel drive SUVs, pickups, ATVs and John Deere Gators for patrol and medical response.