San Francisco Police Department

Tools of the Trade

From the beginning of American policing there was some question about whether officers should be armed. In the violent early days, the officers decided the issue themselves by carrying firearms. It was not until 1859 that Chief Martin Burke issued the order that all officers should equip themselves "with a large revolver." As a backup in the days before the introduction of reliable firearms, officers also equipped themselves with large Bowie knives, which they carried in a scabbard under the breast of their uniform jackets. The illustration shows the badge and knife carried by Chief Martin Burke.

The 1870s, like the 1850s, was one of the more disorderly periods in the city's history. By that time, swelled by a population influx during the Civil War and economic hard times occasioned by the completion of the transcontinental railroad, which brought in cheap goods to the disadvantage of home industries, San Francisco descended gradually into an economic slump. Out of these conditions grew a class of hoodlums whose favorite pastime was fighting the police. Their other favorite target was the thousands of Chinese laborers who had been discharge in 1869 on the completion of the railroad. The 100-officer department had its hands more than full.

Hoodlums and the Police

The little un-staffed station houses, in addition to a telegraph connection to headquarters, had a temporary lockup to hold prisoners and space to store extra equipment. They were much like the Kobans of a later era.

Department staffing was gradually increased during the early 1870s in an attempt to match the growing population and increasing problems. Mounted patrols were established in the area west of Van Ness Avenue. In the First District, which then encompassed 20 square miles running from South of Market to Ocean Beach, the officers were equipped with a horse and a wagon for patrol purposes. There was also another wagon to transport prisoners from the outlying stations to the Hall of Justice.

Much of the disorder during the 1870s was rooted in anti-Chinese sentiments, which culminated in the Great Riot of July 1877, in which it was shown that the Department was sadly understaffed to deal with the emergency. In an echo of the 1850s, a public safety committee was established, comprised of citizens equipped with sawed off pick handles (thus the Pick-Handle Brigade) to put down the rioters. In the aftermath, it became obvious that the department was numerically inadequate to meet the challenges of the time. Over the next several years the department staff was increased from 150 to 400 members.

The department also came of age organizationally. The city was organized into geographic districts and more substantial stations were established in the outlying districts. In 1878, fearing that radical workingmen would gain control of the city government and the police department, the state legislature moved control of the department to a stated appointed commission.