page_title: Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: One of the first badges issued by the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department
context_page_description: The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, more commonly known as the Metropolitan Police Department and the DC Police, is the primary law enforcement agency for the District of Columbia, in the United States. With approximately 3,800 officers and 600 civilian staff, it is the sixth-largest municipal police department in the United States. The department serves an area of 68 square miles and a population of over 700,000 people. Established on August 6, 1861, the MPD is one of the oldest police departments in the United States. The MPD headquarters is at the Henry J Daly Building, located on Indiana Avenue in Judiciary Square across the street from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The department's mission is to "safeguard the District of Columbia and protect its residents and visitors with the highest regard for the sanctity of human life". The MPD's regulations are compiled in title 5, chapter 1 of the District of Columbia Code.
context_section_description: As the American Civil War raged on, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln took a personal interest in the formation of a regular police force for the U.S. capital. Washington had quickly filled with soldiers, government employees, and citizens hoping to cash in on the war. The crowds, crime, and the constant threat of enemy spies, had made the capital into a rowdy city barely under control. After the formation of the Metropolitan Police and its governing Board of Commissioners by Act of Congress, signed into law by President Lincoln on August 6, 1861, Lincoln dispatched a member of the board to study the New York City Police Department and its structure, itself modeled on the London Metropolitan Police Service.
  The Metropolitan Police replaced previous law enforcement organizations. Before the formation of the District in 1801, county constables had jurisdiction over the area, along with the comparatively developed police force for the City of Alexandria.  Within the City of Washington, the first police superintendent was named in 1803, and the city divided into four policing wards, each under a constable, in 1804.  Yet another force, the 16-member Auxiliary Guard of the City of Washington, was established by Act of Congress in August 1842, purportedly because President John Tyler had been burned in effigy, and had rocks thrown at him on the White House grounds.  The formation of the Metropolitan Police dissolved all these previous authorities.  (The Militia of the District of Columbia was created in the Assumption Act of May 3, 1802, active as peacekeepers within the District but tasked with defending the federal government, and commanded directly by the President as a military force, not law enforcement.)
  The Metropolitan Police Board unanimously chose one of its members, William Benning Webb who was commissioned as a Major in the army, to serve as the first Chief of Police, the formal title being "Major and Superintendent". The Police Board initially divided the District into 10 precincts. The First Precinct constituted the portion of Washington County east of the Anacostia River, while the Second Precinct included the county territory north of Washington City and between the Anacostia and Rock Creek. The Third Precinct comprised the remainder of Washington County west of Rock Creek, including Georgetown and the island of Analostan in the Potomac River. The Fourth through Tenth precincts corresponded respectively with the First through Seventh wards of Washington City. Beginning immediately, Superintendent Webb worked to organize the department which had an authorized strength of ten sergeants and as many patrolmen as needed, though not to exceed 150. The majority of the new department was hired by September with the Superintendent of Police salaried annually at $1,500, sergeants received $600, and patrolmen were paid $480. The officers worked 12-hour shifts, seven days a week with no holidays or vacation time. At first officers were issued no uniform or badges and had to purchase their own firearms. The U.S. Capitol building was chosen as the back drop of the MPD badge a month later and today's badge has changed little from the original. The first arrest by an MPD officer was for public intoxication.
  At the urging of U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia Ward Lamon and United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, President Lincoln agreed in November 1864 agreed to have bodyguards, though he felt that the President of the United States should not have found it necessary to have guards at all. Superintendent Webb had four MPD officers assigned the task of guarding the White House grounds and accompanying the president on his walks through the city. However Lincoln did not want this fact made public and the officer's orders were not made official and they wore plainclothes with their revolvers concealed. One of the officers, William H. Crook, the most well known of Lincoln's original guards, would go on to serve under five other administrations and wrote down his recollections in a book Through Five Administrations. He
caption: One of the earliest MPD badges. Today's badge has changed little from the original.
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