Early Police Records
1804-1882
After the Cabildo was abolished and a municipality established, an organized police force rooted in militia patrol was formed. Under the Counseil de Ville, a City Police, known as the Garde de Ville or “City Watch,” was then formed by ordinance. Over the next several years, with every change of mayoral administration came a change in policing, alternating between military rules, commissaries, city guards, and day and night watches. The division of New Orleans into three municipalities in place from 1836-1852 relegated policing duties to each municipality with its own Captain and high Constable. The 1852 City Charter consolidated the three municipalities and the City of Lafayette into one government with a consolidated police force. The records described below represent police records in the City Archives from 1804-1882. Most are available to view on microfilm; non-microfilmed materials may be viewed by appointment in the City Archives. Many of these Early Police Records have also been digitized and are available to view on Ancestry.com. Ancestry is accessible in all New Orleans Public Library locations.
1804-1852
- Commissary of the Second District; Census of the Second District of the City of New Orleans, 1804. (Call number: TK840 1804)
- Commissaries of Police, Reports, 1816-1817, and 1835-1837. (Call number: TK, roll number: 89-178)
- Commissaries of Police for the Second Municipality, Records, 1836-1851.
- Statistics of the wards, 1851 (Call number: TK150, 4 v.)
- Reports of the Commissary of the Fourth Ward, 1847-1848 (Call number: TK205)
- Reports of the Commissary of the St. Mary Market, 1836 (Call number TK205m)
Records of the Commissaries are available on microfilm in the City Archives. These records (excluding the 1804 Census) have also been digitized and are available to view on Ancestry.com
The City Guard was formally organized by ordinance dated May 18, 1805,initially composed of a captain, a lieutenant, a sergeant, three corporals, and thirty-two gendarmes, all of whom agreed to serve for a minimum of three years. Subsequent ordinances and resolutions increased the size of the Guard, directed it to operate in various sections of the city, and specified particular duties for its members. These duties included arresting enslaved individuals who were out at night without permission of their masters; ringing the church bells on the hour and when fires were discovered; making regular rounds, during which they were to enforce the general police regulations; and standing watch at theatre performances and other “spectacles.”
Reports of the Captain of the City Guard are available on microfilm in the City Archives. (Call number: TKD205, 1826-1836). These records have also been digitized and are available to view on Ancestry.com
By ordinance of May 13, 1836 the force of the First Municipality Guard was set at one captain, one lieutenant, two sergeants, forty privates, and ten lamplighters. This force apparently operated according to existing ordinances until the passage of new legislation officially organizing the Guard on February 24, 1837. That law increased the size of the force and divided the force among posts at the City Hall, in the Faubourg Treme, and at Bayou St. John. Its officers were appointed by the Mayor, with Council consent; the other members were named by the captain, with the consent of the Mayor. All were required to give security to assure the faithful performance of duties and to swear to enforce the laws of the Municipality.
Reports of the captain of the Guard (1836-1846) are available on microfilm in the City Archives (Call number: TKD 205, 1836-1846, 1st Mun). These records have also been digitized and are available to view on Ancestry.com
An ordinance of July 1, 1836 established a Night Watch for the Second Municipality composed of one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, three sergeants, and forty-nine watchmen. The men were to be under the supervision of the captain, who also had charge of the arms and other property of the Watch. He was to submit a report to the Recorder each morning of the previous night’s proceedings (a copy also went to the Mayor) and was to keep a register of the Watch and its activities. The force was always at the orders of the captain and was also to report for duty during the day whenever called upon by the Mayor or Recorder. It was divided between posts at the Municipality Hall (1st and 2nd wards) and in the 3rd ward. The officers were required to give security to assure the faithful performance of duties and all members of the Watch were to swear to enforce the laws of the Municipality.
By ordinance of June 28, 1836 a High Constable was to be elected to serve as head of the Day Police. He was required to be in attendance at the Recorder’s Court daily and was charged with distributing the other constables to best serve the peace and quiet and safety of the citizenry. The High Constable was also to employ “intelligent and discreet persons” to function as a secret police. Each day he was to report any police matters to the Recorder and was to keep a register of free persons of color and suspicious strangers.
Included are records of arrests, giving the date, name of arrestee, time, location, arresting officers, possessions on the person of the arrestee, and the name of the person making the complaint. The names of slaves and free persons of color arrested are listed in separate columns from those of others. Also included are reports of guard members absent or in neglect of their duties and of such matters as vendors operating without permission.
Reports of the Captain (1840-1852) are available on microfilm in the City Archives (Call number: TKD 205, 1840-1852, 2nd Mun). These records have also been digitized and are available to view on Ancestry.com
A resolution of the Third Municipality Council passed on April 20,1837 set the size of the municipality’s Guard at forty-five men and seven officers, including a captain, three chiefs of post, and three assistant chiefs. On September 13, 1841 the Council abolished the Commissaries of Police for the Second District and ordered the Guard to assume their responsibilities. By ordinance of June 3, 1844 the Council reorganized the police of the municipality into a Night Watch and a Day Police.
The reports of the Captain are divided into two subseries: volumes maintained in the Mayor’s Office and those maintained in the Recorder’s Office. The books in each subseries include records of arrests, giving the date, name of arrestee, time, location, arresting officers, possessions on the person of the arrestee, and the name of the person making the complaint. The names of slaves and free persons of color arrested are listed in separate columns from those of others. Also included are reports of guard members absent or in neglect of their duties and of such matters as balls operating without permission and carts and other vehicles operating against the laws in force. Reports of the Captain are available on microfilm in the City Archives Call number: TKD205m, 1836-1850, 3rd Mun)
The beat book contains daily lists of officers and the beats to which they were assigned. In the rear of the volume there are also records of expenses for June and July, 1853, as well as other miscellaneous records. The beat roll of the municipality is available on microfilm in the City Archives (Call number: TKD430, 1851-1852, 3rd Mun)
Records of the Third Municipality Guard are available on microfilm in the City Archives. These records have also been digitized and are available to view on Ancestry.com
1852-1882
Ordinance #25, approved on May 14, 1852, established a Department of Police with the Mayor as its chief executive. The Mayor was to prepare rules and regulations for the department, subject to the approval of the Common Council. A chief of police was responsible to the Mayor for the efficiency, general conduct, and good order of the department. He was to keep in his office such books as were necessary to record all police business and was also to keep a register of all free persons of color in the city (independent of the registers kept by the Mayor). View the finding aid of all Department of Police records.
- Report, including arrests, 1852-1863 (Call number: TB205a, 1852-1864)
- Minutes of the Board of Police, 1854-1856 (Call number: TB301bp, 1854-1856)
- Certifications of arrests of runaway slaves, 1852 (Call number: TB650s, 1852)
- Personnel records, 1852-1868 (Call number: TB850, 1852-1868)
The above Department of Police records are available on microfilm. are available on microfilm in the City Archives. These records have also been digitized and are available to view on Ancestry.com
The charter of the city of New Orleans, passed in 1852, included among the executive officers of the city four Recorders to be elected to two year terms, one from each of the four municipal districts. The Recorders were to serve as ex-officio justices of the peace and were to exercise all of the duties previously invested in the Recorders of the separate municipalities of the city. Ordinance #1537 (1854) directed them to commit to the workhouse all runaway enslaved and free persons of color found to be illegally in the state. In the following year, ordinance #2324 made it the duty of each Recorder to “hear and determine all complaints which may be brought before them, for the violation of every ordinance of the city;” persons found guilty of such offenses were to pay the appropriate fine or be imprisoned for up to thirty days in the parish prison.
- Records of the Third District Recorder’s Office
- Police Reports, 1853-1856 (Call number: mf VGC205
- Trial Dockets, 1858-1862 (Call number: mf VGC350
- Records of Criminal Cases, 1854-1862 (Call number: mf VGC410)
- Vagrant Record Books, 1859-1862 (Call number: mf VGC412)
Records of the Third District Recorder’s Office are available to view on microfilm in the City Archives.
The record book is a manuscript log of the messages received and sent through the system. Each message is identified by the time sent, the station sending (with operator’s initials), the station receiving (also with operator’s initials), and, in most cases, the date. The text of each message is recorded, along with the text of the answering message. Messages deal with sightings of criminals, fire alarms, lost children, runaway slaves, etc. Several messages around the time of the Federal capture of the city in May, 1862 may be of special interest.
The Fire Alarm and Police Telegraph is available to view on microfilm in the City Archives. (Call Number: PGB500, 1860-1863). These records have also been digitized and are available to view on Ancestry.com
Records the number of warrants issued by police precinct and by departmental subdivision (Secret Service, Superintendent’s Office, Sanitary Company, etc.) from 1868-1873. Also included are recapitulation sheets for the entire department as well as separate recapitulation sheets for each subdivision. The volume was later used to record the number of days worked each week in the department’s eighth precinct for the period September 1877-February 1881.
Available to view by appointment in the City Archives (Call number: ?)
The Metropolitan Police District was created in 1868 by Act 74 of the Louisiana Legislature, as part of the Republican reconstruction following the Civil War. The Metropolitan Police is perhaps remembered most for its participation in the “Battle of Liberty Place.” On September 14, 1874, members of the conservative Democratic White League attacked the Metropolitans in a dispute arising from the disputed gubernatorial election of 1872 — more generally, in an attempt to end Reconstruction rule in Louisiana. In the brief but bloody battle at the foot of Canal Street, the Metropolitans were routed and the White League seized the city. Federal control was reestablished within days, but the battle marked the beginning of a shift in power and of the end of the Metropolitan Police. The force was dismantled by Act 35 of 1877, which repealed all previous Metropolitan Police legislation and authorized the City of New Orleans, through the Mayor and Board of Administrators, to “establish, organize and maintain a police force which would be entirely under city control.” City ordinance 3889 A.S. (April 26, 1877) reconstituted the local department under the control of the Mayor and an Administrator of Police.
The records listed below are bound manuscript volumes available to view by appointment in the City Archives. They have not been microfilmed.
- Report of arrests made in the Second Precinct of the Metropolitan Police District, 1870-1873
- Journal of Expenditures
- Ledger of Expenditures
- Pension Fund Ledger
- Ledger of Warrants, Expenses and Taxes for the Metropolitan Police
- Register of blue Metropolitan Police Warrants
- Outgoing Correspondence of the Treasurer
- Metropolitan Police Warrants Handed Over to Treasurer Board Metropolitan Police by Administrator of Finance
- Register of Certificates of the Board of Metropolitan Police Paid by Cash Warrants of Administrator of Public Accounts
