LANSING POLICE DEPARTMENT HISTORICAL WEB SITE
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LANSING POLICE DEPARTMENT HISTORICAL WEB SITE
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LANSING, MICHIGAN –The Capital CityMichigan became a territory in 1805 and met the requirements for statehood in 1837, with Detroit designated as the temporary capital. Word of the new State brought settlers from New York and New England along the Erie Canal to Michigan. Ten years later, in 1847, after months of lively debate, legislators named “Lansing Township, in the County of Ingham” as the permanent location of the capital. However, it was 1859 before Lansing received its first charter and designated municipal government. The mayor appointed the man of his political favor as the city marshal. The marshal, who shared rented quarters with the sheriff, appointed three watchmen to keep loiterers away from the railroads and watch for fires. A Justice of the Peace handled civil and legal matters. The building of a new capitol in the 1870s brought many workers and speculators to the city, continuing the growth of Lansing. The common council divided the city into wards, each ward represented by an alderman/councilman and constable. The watchmen and constables also patrolled the growing downtown business district. By 1888, arrests were averaging 328 a year for vagrancy, larceny, common prostitution and drunk and disorderly. Tramps cared for and ordered out town numbered 350. The local paper reported, “All tramps seeking lodging in the city lock-up are to put in two hours work to pay for same.” Some 32 saloons had opened throughout the city and the mayor and city marshal came under fire for harassing the saloonkeepers for illegal hours. The keepers called a “strictly secret” meeting; only those with the “grip and password” were allowed to attend as they mapped their strategy against the reelection of the mayor. However, ladies from church groups, joined by prominent businessmen and educators rallied support for the mayor and Marshal Sanford to put the illegal saloons out of business. A battle that was fought many times. An amendment to the city charter in May 1893 provided for a six member nonpartisan board of police and fire commissioners-three democrats and three republicans. The common council vested the board with the necessary powers to form the LANSING POLICE DEPARTMENT and draw up the first rules and regulations of the department that included “…At all times the police officer must be prepared to act immediately on the notice their services are required.…” Many traditions established over 100 years ago are the foundation for the Lansing Police Department in the 21st century. According to the 1993 Centennial Annual Report; “The Lansing Police Department must acknowledge the citizens as the source of police authority, administer the law without bias, recognize the dignity and worth of all people, encourage cooperation and support from neighborhoods and the greater community, provide services in a sensitive, ethical, and effective manner and seek to gain the respect of all people.”
Patrolmen George Kohler, John Bush, Marshal Ed Bates, patrolmen Ben Harrington and John Collins in front of police headquarters, 204 E. Michigan Ave. 1890s |
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