SOURCE - http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/police/history.htm ================ SFPD Patch SFPD Star San Francisco Police Department History Welcome to the San Francisco Police Department web site! Here's a brief history of our city and police department. The San Francisco Police Department was founded in 1849, in the midst the great California Gold Rush. From a settlement of less than 1000 people at the end of 1847, scattered around Yerba Buena Cove, the town exploded into cityhood following the January 1848 gold discovery on the American River. As news of the gold strike traveled outward, gold seekers flooded in from all over the world. By the end of 1848 the town's population had grown to 2000. By the end of 1849 it had swelled to 20,000. In the prevailing law enforcement vacuum -- as everyone sought to make his "pile" and return home -- a group of bullies calling themselves the Hounds set themselves up as self-appointed guardians of the peace. To support their "law enforcement" activities, the Hounds established a protection racket, extorting money principally from Latino immigrants. One Sunday night, in June 1849, the Hounds went too far. They rampaged drunkenly through "Chiletown" on the eastern slopes of Telegraph Hill, raping and robbing as they went. The next day, the previously acquiescent residents of the town formed the first of San Francisco's famed public tribunals, which banished the Hounds, under pain of execution if they returned. The town council established the first regular police department in San Francisco on August 13, 1849. Under the leadership of Malachi Fallon, the city's first Chief of Police, the 30-man department set about policing the booming city. One hundred and forty-eight years later, San Francisco is the West Coast's premier cultural and financial city, still surrounded on three sides by water, still marked with hills affording sudden and spectacular views. There is a resident population of around 750,000 persons that swells to over a million during the business day. To safeguard its residents and visitors, San Francisco currently has a police force of over 2,000 officers, operating primarily from ten district police stations. The San Francisco Police Department, however, is more than just a peacekeeping organization. It is also in the vanguard of developing community policing relations, working directly with citizens in many innovative programs: The Citizens' Academy introduces people to the many aspects of policing. Citizens on Patrol has officers and citizens working together on action-oriented agendas to help improve neighborhood quality of life. Police stations have community rooms where command staff meet with neighborhood residents on a regular basis. The Mentor program has officers working with college students on a one-to-one basis, helping them towards careers in law enforcement. The Community Policing and Problem solving (CPAPS) Program has officers on the street, interacting with residents and merchants on a daily basis. It is this spirit of community interaction, combined with an emphasis on training and technological advancement, that will carry the SFPD into the rapidly approaching 21st century. We look forward to your questions and comments on our new web site! Early to mid 20th century SFPD photographs: _________________________________________________________________ ©1997 City and County of San Francisco San Francisco Police Department 9/9/97 Permission to use, copy and distribute documents delivered from this Worldwide Web Server and related graphics is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and this permission notice appear. All other rights reserved.