History
The first attempt to establish a police department in Baltimore occurred in 1784, nearly 60 years after the founding of the original town, when a guard force of constables were authorized to enforce town laws and arrest those in violation. The first BPD officer to die in the line of duty occurred when Sergeant William Jourdan was shot and killed by an unknown gunman during the first city council elections on October 14, 1857. Night Watchman George Workner was the first law enforcement officer to be killed in the city when he was stabbed during an escape attempt by nine inmates in the Baltimore Jail on March 14, 1808, but his death predates the founding of the department.
In 1845 the current Baltimore Police Department was founded by the state legislature "to provide for a better security for life and property in the City of Baltimore". The early days of the Department were marked by conflict over Know Nothing control.
In 1861, during the U.S. Civil War, the police department was taken over by the federal government and run by the U.S. Military until it was turned back over to the legislature in 1862.
In July 1974 officers joined other striking municipal workers for five days during the Baltimore police strike.
As of a 2000 survey published by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003, BPD is the 8th largest municipal police department in the United States with a total of 3,034 police officers. Comparatively as of the 2000 U.S. census Baltimore ranked as the 17th largest city in the United States with a population of 651,154.
As of 2010 there have been 120 police officers killed in the line of duty, which is by far the largest total in Maryland. The next largest total belongs to the Maryland State Police, with 40 troopers killed in the line of duty as of 2005.
Read more about this topic: Baltimore Police Department
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)