The New York City Police Department Pulaski Association, an organization made up of men and women of Polish-Slavic descent, was founded in September of 1956.
The objective of the organization is to maintain social and fraternal organization dedicated to the ideals of brotherhood, charity, fraternity, good citizenship and family while promoting the image and spirit of Polonia and the New York City Police Department
This year, 2006, The Pulaski Association is celebrating our 50th Anniversary and boasts a membership of 1200+.
HISTORY
In September of 1956 a small group of 31 police officers of Polish Heritage met at Prospect Hall, Brooklyn, New York. Sergeant Michael Labowski was elected to lead this group to petition the New York City Police Department for permission to establish a Polish Fraternal organization.
Sergeant Labowski and the other founders, in searching for a name for the organization, decided on Pulaski in honor of the great Polish freedom fighter, General Casimir Pulaski.
The founders saw in General Pulaski an unselfish bravery and dedication to freedom which was consistent with the goals of the organization they had established.
The establishment of the Pulaski Association within the Police Department inspired the establishment of Polish fraternal associations within the other civil service departments.
Sergeant Labowski went on to organize and become the first president of the Grand Council of Pulaski Associations within Civil Service. In the years to follow the Pulaski Association aided the establishment of Polish fraternal organizations within police departments in the neighboring counties of Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk as well as in major cities such as Buffalo, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago.
The Pulaski Association has grown to a membership of over 1,500 active and retired New York City police officers of Polish and Slavic Heritage. The Association is at the forefront of fraternal organizations within the New York City Police Department as well as the Polish Community. Each year on the first Sunday of October, members of the Pulaski Association demonstrate their ethnic pride by marching up Fifth Avenue in the Pulaski Day Parade.
The Pulaski Association is known for it's support of brotherhood, worthy charitable causes as well as it's scholarship program. The Pulaski Association, each year recognizes a police officer for a heroic act with the awarding of the Pulaski Association, Medal For Valor.
A Pulaskian of the Year Award is also given to an individual for actions deemed exceptional by the Pulaski Association. The Pulaski Association is a supporter of the Polish Gift of Life Program. This program brings to the United States, Polish children in need of heart surgery that is not available in Poland.
Each year the Pulaski Association awards more than $20,000 in high school and college scholarships to children of it's members.
Copyright: Committee Of Police Societies, Police Department City of New York
One Police Plaza, Room 206, New York, New York, 10038