Search Result: Police History

Chrysler has been producing Plymouth or Dodge patrol cars since the early 1930s, and for many of those early years Plymouth turned out some special cars for police work. The earliest came when the Washington State Patrol began using a 1932 Plymouth 1932 PB coupe, according to AllPar.com. Chrysler offered its first police package on 1956 Dodge Coronets. The 1970s brought the era of Mopar squads.

Officers on the job before 1966 knew that the right to remain silent was guaranteed by the Constitution, but no officer from that era ever thought it was his job to remind offenders of their rights. That changed with the arrest of Ernesto Miranda in March 1963 and the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that followed.

This vintage early color footage shows the LASD Pistol Team at Biscailuz Range during a shooting skills exhibition in 1938. It features legendary marksman and LASD Aero Bureau aviation pioneer Sgt. Sewell Griggers.

Alexia Jones Helsley explores the history of crime and vice in a renowned South Carolina city in "Wicked Columbia: Vice and Villainy In the Capital." She tells POLICE Magazine about a deadly duel over a piece of trout, prostitution taxis from Fort Jackson, and the murder of the county coroner by a former officer.

Veteran Seattle PD Officer Jim Ritter responds to calls not with a modern patrol car but with a restored 1970 Plymouth Satellite cruiser. Read the full story here.

In March of 1963, Phoenix Police Officer Carroll Cooley arrested Ernesto Miranda. Fifty years later, Miranda warnings are as much a part of policing today as a set of handcuffs. Cooley, a retired captain, talked with POLICE Magazine about the historic arrest. Read the full story here.

Special police badges have become a more common sight especially in larger agencies. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department issues anniversary badges every five years to boost officer morale and honor the agency's heritage. The agency emerged in 1973 from a merger of the Las Vegas Police Department and Clark County Sheriff's Department. The agency also produced a 9/11 badge commemorating the officers who helped in New York. View these badges, which were designed by Jimmy Smith, co-founder of an agency museum, and produced by Sun Badge Company. Photos courtesy of Sun Badge.

The history of the Houston Police Department is chronicled in "Houston Blue" by Mitchel Roth and Tom Kennedy. Roth speaks with POLICE Magazine about the South's largest law enforcement agency—its origins, oil-boom crime spike, links to the Ku Klux Klan, story of the first female officer, and the impact of Hurricane Katrina refugees on the city's murder rate.

Three authors, including a retired detective, tell the history of the New York Police Department using more than 196 images including an illustration of mid-19th Century uniforms and photos of vintage vehicles, riot response, dramatic resues, and the first African-American and female officers. "New York City Police" also includes a forward by current Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Boston celebrated two centennials in 2012—the building of Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox and the founding of the Boston Police Department's motor unit, which is known as the Mobile Operations Patrol (MOP) unit. The two centennials came together on Sept. 16, when agency brass recognized the unit's heritage during a ceremony in front of Fenway's "green monster" wall in left field. Photos courtesy of Robert Anthony.

Indianapolis Police Officers Elizabeth Robinson and Betty Blankenship are generally acknowledged as the first female officers assigned to patrol duties in a radio car. For more about this era of pioneering police women, read our related feature, "The First Female Patrol Officers." Photos: Collection of the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, D.C.