Joanne Jaffe joined the NYC Police Department in November 1979, after graduating John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Upon graduating the police academy, she was assigned to the 75th precinct in East New York, Brooklyn. While on patrol, she continued to pursue her education. In 1984 she earned a Master’s Degree in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College. After 4 years as a patrol officer, she was elevated to an investigative assignment within the Queens Narcotics Division of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.

In November 1985, Officer Jaffe was promoted to sergeant and transferred to the 104th Precinct in Queens where she served as a patrol sergeant. One year later she was selected to a supervisory position within the NYPD’s elite Street Crime Unit.

After three years in Street Crime, Sergeant Jaffe was promoted to Lieutenant. As Lieutenant, she supervised the late tour platoon in the 115th Precinct, serving the community of Jackson Heights. During that time she was selected by the NYPD to attend the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. In 1991, Lieutenant Jaffe returned to the Street Crime Unit.

In 1993, Lieutenant Jaffe was promoted to Captain and assigned to Patrol Borough Manhattan South. She served as the Executive Officer of the 13th Precinct (Gramercy Park), and the 9th Precinct (East Village).

In December 1994, Captain Jaffe received her first assignment as a Commanding Officer - the 1st Precinct - which encompasses the southernmost part of Manhattan, including Wall Street. In August 1995, she was promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector.

In December 1995, Deputy Inspector Jaffe was assigned as commander of the 33rd Precinct located in Washington Heights in Northern Manhattan.

In August 1996, Deputy Inspector Jaffe was promoted to the rank of Inspector. In June 1997, Inspector Jaffe was reassigned as commander of the 19th Precinct, covering Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

In June 1998, Inspector Jaffe was promoted to Assistant Chief and assigned to command Patrol Borough Bronx. As the Bronx Borough Commander, she oversaw the administration and patrol activities of twelve (12) police precincts and borough level units.

In September 2000, Assistant Chief Jaffe was assigned to the Office of Management Analysis & Planning to oversee the reengineering of the NYPD Intelligence Division.

After developing a new model for the Intelligence Division in 2001, Assistant Chief Jaffe was appointed as Executive Officer of the Detective Bureau.

In January 2002, Assistant Chief Jaffe was assigned as Commanding Officer of the Office of Management Analysis & Planning.

Chief Jaffe was promoted to Chief of Housing in 2003. During her ten years as a Bureau Chief she oversaw all police activity in the Housing Bureau consisting of 2,000 uniform members covering 334 housing developments made up of approximately 600,000 residents.

While serving as Chief of the Housing Bureau, she was selected the attend Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Executive Education course and was awarded a certificate of completion from the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program in June 2008.

In February 2014, she was appointed Chief of Community Affairs, where she worked with hundreds of diverse communities, building relationships and strengthening ties. In addition, her responsibilities included providing a safe and secure environment for the 1.1 million students attending public schools, and supervising 5,000 school safety agents within the School Safety Division. The Youth Strategies Division and the Crime Prevention Division were also under her command.

In February 2018, Chief Jaffe retired from the NYC Police Department after over 38 years of service.