By Mike Simmons
I remember as a young officer thinking how bad I had it. We wore polyester pants and a shirt, drove small Dodge Diplomats, and had AM-only radios. We worked nine-hour shifts with only two or three days off before having to return to work. And we rotated between days, evenings and midnights. We thought it was rough…
In the early 1900s, most police officers walked a beat. Shifts lasted twelve hours and the officers worked six days a week. Even a slow day, then, became somewhat grueling. Turnover during those days was great – maybe ¼ of the department every few months.
The position of police officer in every city – including Pensacola – was not considered to be a professional one or one that a man dedicated a career to. The pay was low, the conditions were bad, and the officers were not as disciplined as they were in later years.
There was virtually no training for officers at the beginning of the 20th century. Officers in Pensacola were given a badge (if they wanted a gun, they had to buy one), and a heavy wool uniform to wear – which they had to pay for. The uniform consisted of a white shirt, dark blue wool pants, a dark blue wool jacket, black leather shoes, and a custodian helmet (commonly known as a bobby hat). Almost all officers also carried a truncheon, which was an heavy, early form of a night stick. They were sent to walk a beat. At first, they walked (often with a veteran officer) along Palafox Street. However, before long, they were sent to a smaller, less busy area, where they remained until they worked their way to be promoted to a main street.
There was usually a heavy concentration of officers in the red light district (Government to Main Streets and Palafox to Spring Streets), especially when ships docked and sailors with lots of money were let loose.
In order to maintain order among the officers, the chief and captains created a small, pocket-sized book. On January 22, 1908, this new police manual was distributed to the force. A few of the orders and rules are interesting and bear repeating…
- Police officers cannot leave town (on or off duty) unless in the pursuit of a fugitive, by direction of the chief, or by written permission by the Board of Public Safety.
- Harsh, violent, coarse, profane or insolent language cannot be used.
- Officers must salute the mayor, the chief, a captain or a sergeant every time they pass each other.
- No hanging around the entrance to any pool room, cigar stand or other place of similar resort.
- All dead-beats must be removed from the department.
- Officers must be familiar with the location of all vaudeville performances and the homes of junk and second-hand dealers.
- Officers must report when premises are used contrary to the good morals or public policy.
- An officer can be removed for leaving his beat without permission or for sitting down while on duty.
- An officer can be removed for not paying for his uniform.
- An officer can be removed for smoking on duty – between 7am and 7pm.
Okay, so maybe we didn’t have it so bad in my day.