Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Boston Police Department

1912; Volume: 2; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1132827

2160-0023

George H. McCaffrey,

Law, Rights, and Freedoms

The history of Boston police administration goes back only to 1854, when the first body of uniform police was established.This establishment was modeled on the Metropolitan Police of London and consisted of about two hundred and fifty men.During the years prior to 1854, police administration had been in the hands of a body known as the City Watch, which traced its beginnings back to the founding of Boston.The Watch was a semi-voluntary body, notable for its sleepiness and inefficiency in any sort of emergency.It was fortunate that a change was made in 1854, for the troubles of the Civil War period were soon at hand and the work of the police greatly augmented in consequence.All appointments to the police force were made at first by the mayor and aldermen, the patrolmen being paid two dollars a day and holding office simply during the pleasure of those who appointed them.This system worked very unsatisfactorily, however, because places on the police force were invariably bestowed as a reward for partisan activity.In 1878, therefore,'the control of the force was given to a board of three men appointed for five years by the mayor and confirmed by the aldermen.Even this change did not eliminate politics sufficiently and seven years later the revised charter of Boston transferred the power of appointing the three men to the governor of the state, in whose hands it has since remained.Admission to the police force also was placed on a civil service basis in 1885 and a probationary period for reserve men was introduced in 1887.The last important change was made in 1906, when the police commission of three members was abolished and a single commissioner, with an independent licensing board of three men, was established in its place.The Boston police have authority over a territory of 40.63 square miles and patrol 514 miles of streets.Certain jurisdiction is also exercised over Boston Harbor.There are fifteen divisions for the land territory and one for the harbor.Each division has its own stationhouse and two of the suburban divisions have sub-stations also.Besides these stations there are the Headquarters, the House of Detention for Women, and the City Prison.The hierarchy of officers in Boston con-1