In late spring 1850, the Los Angeles region was ushered into a new age with the recasting of the town's governance and legal system. The Mexican-era civil law system with an alcalde, ayuntamiento, and other officials were replaced with an American common-law structure with a mayor, common (city) council, city marshal, county sheriff, and a new grouping of courts and judges.
What was not incorporated initially was a formal police department, as the town's marshal and his deputies were charged with keeping the peace. As the town grew during the intensity of the Gold Rush sweeping California, criminal activity and violence also skyrocketed.
Frustration with what seemed an unchecked tide of crime and violence, citizens clamored for a stronger organization and the common council responded by creating a police department, led by chief Alexander W. Hope. The force proved to be short-lived, as economic reality dictated that it was simply too expensive with existing revenue to fund the department.
Tax rates were very low by modern standards, being fractions of one percent of every $100 in taxable property, so there wasn't much money available for much of any infrastructure. For example, public schools weren't even in the picture yet, water delivery was limited to existing zanjas, or earthen ditches, and sewers were decades away.
Still, there was an initial effort to have a police department following trends developing in eastern American cities, which only recently had moved away from volunteer watch systems to paid police officers.
This letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Star, published in the 16 August 1851 issue, just a couple of months after the launch of the town's first newspaper, addressed some concerns, however, with the operations of the fledgling department.
Subscribing himself as "Order," the writer began by suggesting that officers "be required at all times when on duty, to be armed . . ." By modern standards, this seems baffling to have to recommend police officers carry weapons, but it appears that in 1851 Los Angeles, some peace officers, were, in fact, unarmed.
Continuing, "Order" stated that officers should also "be instructed carefully as to what rights they have in case of resistance" and that it was necessary "to have clear and positive orders as to the disposal they can make of a prisoner when arrested."
He noted that, the previous evening, a man was arrested "under aggravating circumstances" and then released to go home without a weapon. Yet, just twenty minutes later, the same individual was found "'spreading himself'" with a revolver "to the terror of one of the prettiest and otherwise quietest balls I have ever seen in the town." It took some effort, evidently, to wrest the weapon away from the subject, to the extent, "Order" claimed, that "a fatal result came very near being necessary . . . for want of firmness at the outset."
The conclusion was that "This 'six-shooter" business must be kept in check," particularly at social events like the ball at which the incident took place.
Incidentally, references to "six-shooters" in the letter are interesting because the Colt revolver had been introduced to the market in 1849. This was just in time for the uproar of the Gold Rush, in which hordes of young single men, free of the restraining influences of home and family (if they had these), fueled by alcohol, and armed with the latest in weaponry technology, found themselves in a place with almost no workable government, law enforcement system or judicial system. Moreover, Gold Rush California was filled with people from many ethnic groups, including Chinese, Mexicans, Americans, Europeans and more. Even in the best of circumstances, this assemblage could hardly be expected to get along well and California was certainly not in the best of circumstances.
Los Angeles may not have been in the hotbed of activity in the gold fields, but it did have an important role as a waystation to and from the mines and points south and east. Its population was in flux and its saloons, gambling houses, brothels and other "places of entertainment" were breeding grounds for much of the crime and violence that gave the "City of Angels" its devlish reputation.
"Order" was likely representing the view of many others in the community that improvements to law enforcement, along with the courts, was an imperative in the town and county. Yet, for years afterward, rampant criminal activity and ineffective policing and court operations plagued the town.
Future posts will highlight this struggle to come to terms with these issues, so check back soon!
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