William H. Crough Employment Records,
1894-1900
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William Crough applied for employment as a police officer in 1894, as we can see from this application form. He was appointed to the force as a patrolman on April 16, 1895, and given a certificate to that effect signed by the mayor of Yonkers.
The next three records show that Officer Crough was not always a model policeman. He was cited twice in 1898 for sitting in the Ladies Room at the railroad station, when he was presumably on duty. In late 1899 he was cited for being 17 minutes late in reporting for duty. The department dealt with infractions such as this in a variety of ways. If it was determined that the infraction occurred, the officer in question could receive anything from a reprimand to a fine of several days pay. Eventually, the officers came to view many of these punishments as unfair, and a police union was formed.