Preceden

Timeline of Police Events

By: Tanya Andazola-Pena and Chloe Lucero

Events

Constables

1600 - 1700

Selected men to serve as guardians of the peace.

Federal Marshals

1600 - 1700

Their duties were related to civil and criminal court activity

Military watches & Rattle watches

1600 - 1700

Paid volunteers that secured night watch.

Vigilantes

1600 - 1700

Were self- appointed law enforcers who punished outlaws

Police stations

1626

The New York City Sheriff’s Office was founded

The Town of Boston began the First night watch

1635

Late 1800: Call boxes on the beat were introduced

1800

Late 1800's: Cincinnati was the first city to require police officers to be of high moral character and fast.

1800 - 1809

Police officers maintained order and made arrests, but they often circumvented their responsibilities

1800

Conflicts occur because of ethnic and racial differences, economic failures, moral questions, and during elections of public officials

1830 - 1870

The “Year of the Riots” occurs in New York City.

1834

The Broad Street Riot in Philadelphia involves almost 15,000 residents.

1837

The Boston Police Department becomes the first local modern police department in U.S.

1838

New York City combined its separate day and night watches into a single city police force.

1845

The New York City Police Department is established

1845

District stations were linked by telegraph lines.

1850

U.S. uniforms included blue pants, blue shirt and a flat cap with a visor on the front.

1850

New York was the first to institute a dress code, dark blue, like the British ones.

1853

Police assisted the poor, took in overnight lodgers and returned lost children

1860 - 1890

First two African American police officers: Robert William Stewart and Roy Green are hired by LAPD

1886

The New York Times uses “police brutality” for the first time to describe the beating of a civilian by an officer.

1893

August Vollmer, the police chief of Berkeley, CA, becomes the father of modern law enforcement.

1900

Radio and motorized communications appear

1900

The Pennsylvania State Police becomes the first state police agency.

1905

Berkeley’s department was the first to use blood, fiber and soil analysis in investigations

1907

Alice Stebbins Wells was the first female police officer hired by LAPD

1910

Reforms began: officers became more professional and crime experts.

1910 - 1960

The first female deputy sheriff: Margaret Q. Adams is hired by the LA county Sheriff’s Department.

1910

Late 1920's: In many American cities, local political leaders and control over the police force.

1920

The lie detector was invented

1921

The fingerprint classification system was developed.

1924

Radio- equipped squad cars were first used

1928

FBI inaugurated the forensic laboratory

1932

Radar was introduced to traffic law enforcement

1940

Due to riots and cases of police corruption, the NY Police Department replaced the dark blue with a more friendly blue.

1960 - 1970

Riots broke out in cities in the U.S. in trying to control the rioters, the police were sometimes charged with unnecessary force.

1960 - 1970

A white New York city police officer shot and killed a black teenager

1964

911 was created

1968

Female officers were assigned to patrol duty and crime investigations.

1970 - 1980

Investigations of several city police departments revealed cases of police corruption.

1970 - 1980

Sheriffs

1970 - 1980

Held elections, collected taxes and kept custody of public funds

The United States Police Canine Association is formed when two other associations merge.

1971

Uniforms returned to dark blue after the city experiences terrorist attacks.

1990 - 2000

Rodney G. King, a black motorist, was beaten by white officers.

1991

CompStat, a crime tracker, is put in function

1994

Abner Louima was arrested and abused with a broomstick. The case reflected a $8.7 million settlement from the city of Brooklyn and the police union

1997