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History of Emerald Societies in America

By Patrick F. O'Brien

continued from Part 2...

The 1960's saw new Emerald Societies formed outside New York City, Suffolk (‘67) New Jersey (‘68) and Nassau County (‘68) Police Departments on Long Island, as well as Westchester County Police established Emerald Societies. In 1965, the Port Authority Police organized an Emerald Society which included police officers from both the states of New York and New Jersey.

Also during this decade, a new dimension dawned upon the Emerald Society, the establishment of an official police bagpipe band. Prior to 1960, there wasn’t any formal organized police or fire bagpipe band in the United States. Once again, the NYPD Emerald Society rose to the occasion and formed the first fully uniformed and equipped bagpipe band. The Pipe and Drums of the Emerald Society of the NYPD made their debut appearance on March 17, 1960 as they marched down Fifth Avenue in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Finbar Devine of the NYPD was a founding member of the Emerald Society and the inspiration behind the bagpipe band. He led them as their Drum Major that historical day, as well as for the next 35 parades until his death in 1995. Sgt. Finbar Devine was an imposing man of stature -6'4"- and over the years he became the quintessential Irish New York City Police officer who was loved and admired and a sought out figure at all of the parades. Over the years, due to popularity, other police and fire Emerald Societies, along with many public safety agencies across the United States, have established bagpipe bands.

In the 1970's, Boston Police (‘71) established an Emerald Society followed by Rockland County, NY (‘72). Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, both police and fire departments formed an Emerald Society in 1973, then the Emerald Society movement began to take hold in the mid-west also, as Chicago, the Windy City, established the Emerald Society of Illinois in 1975. At the end of the decade, New Haven (‘79) formed the first Police Emerald Society in the state of Connecticut.

Due to a large contingent of Emerald Societies concentrated in the New York City area, a regional organization was formed in 1975, called the Grand Council of United States Societies. The Grand Council included police and fire as well as civilian Emerald Societies. The civilian Emeralds Societies included professionals from the Board of Education, Transit and Housing Authorities, Public Utilities and telephone companies, the Department of Sanitation and private bus companies. The Grand Council provided a forum for all the Emerald Societies to meet and share information. This regional concept proved to be the model for the formation of statewide organizations, as well as the forerunner to a larger national movement which would start twenty years later in Washington, DC.

Nine new Emerald Societies were established in the 1980's. Rhode Island and West Haven, CT came aboard in 1982. New Jersey started three more Emerald Societies in Cape May, Mercer and Union counties. Three new fire Emerald Societies were also started, firefighters of Washington, DC (‘80), Nassau County (‘86) and Jersey City (‘87). In the nation’s capitol the Police Emerald Society of the Washington, DC area was formed in 1986. This Emerald Society had a unique membership as it came from three jurisdictions: Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. The nation’s capitol is considered a federal city and therefore membership was extended to any Irish-American law enforcement officer in the United States. In the beginning, the Police Emerald Society of Washington served a dual purpose; serving the local law enforcement community as well as law enforcement communities across the county which did not have an Emerald Society.

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