Citizen patrols enhanced Staunton's early policing push
In 1802, Staunton was still very much a plain, backwoods community with little to recommend it as a place to live other than its taverns. According to eyewitness accounts of the day, Staunton was a great place to be if — and only if — you were a drinking and gambling man.
However, in 1802 the town made two real efforts to pull itself up by its bootstraps. First, Staunton's freeholders elected 12 of their number to serve as mayor, recorder, aldermen and common councilmen, moving away from a system in which the town was governed by trustees.
Secondly, the council on April 28 established a police force and hired two men — Joseph Dirkey and John Wise — as its officers. Each man was paid a salary of $10 a year.
Duties that would have fallen to these early policemen included dealing with drunks, thieves and overall troublemakers, as well as those who flouted various town ordinances.
One of these ordinances was passed just three days after the establishment of the police force. On May 1, the council decreed that no one could move a wagon, cart or dray through the streets of Staunton on the Sabbath. They levied a fine of $3.50 for each offense. The unpopularity of this ordinance, as well as the probable inability of Staunton's two constables to enforce it, led to its demise a year later.
By 1808, Staunton had grown to the point where two policemen simply weren't enough to control its wilder elements.
On Feb. 15, 1808, the common council created a "patrol" of citizen volunteers and passed an ordinance giving it the power to "apprehend any free person who might be found disturbing the peace and endangering the safety of the town or its citizens, or otherwise violating the laws of good order," and to "apprehend any slave found committing any sort of disorder, or strolling through the town at an untimely hour of night without due permission."
The patrol also had to guard against fire and to seize all straggling or disorderly people and hand them over to a justice. This citizen force was divided into groups of four men each, who were required to perform regular duty from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., and to file a written report every morning to one of the officers of the patrol.
Even though its members were volunteers, the patrol was held to strict standards and regulations. Absenteeism without "sufficient cause," for example, was punishable by a $1 fine.
Staunton now had a regular, albeit small, police force, and a citizen patrol. Still, it wasn't enough. On Nov. 21, 1812, a "watch" was established. These guardians of the peace were paid $400 annually, but only after "faithful discharge of duty." The town paid for this new expense by taxing each retailer $3 annually.
Staunton got even more serious about its law enforcement in 1832 when, on March 25, an ordinance was passed that required all healthy white males over the age of 18 to enlist in the patrol. This group was reorganized into detachments of seven men each, with the duty of each detachment being to walk the streets of Staunton under the command of an officer.
Even with all this manpower, from time to time city fathers had to increase it, most notably during the 1838 rash of arsons that destroyed the Wayne Tavern and other property downtown. The presence of the police and patrols drove the arsonist out of town and into the county where he destroyed even more property.
It wasn't until 1853 that Staunton acquired a police chief. An ordinance was passed on May 25 authorizing the appointment of such an officer, and Magnus W. Crawford was chosen for the position. No one knows why, but he held the job for less than a year.
The Civil War brought with it an entirely new set of law enforcement concerns for Staunton. Thousands of soldiers surged through the town, availing themselves of its saloons, gambling houses and establishments of ill repute. In an effort to maintain order, council made service in the citizen patrol compulsory for all healthy male citizens over the age of 17.
These men, who worked without pay, were required to patrol the town from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. But Lee's surrender at Appomattox didn't spell the end for Staunton's enforced citizen patrol. An order for participation by the town's male populace was passed on April 21, 1865, as a way to help control lawless elements that continued to operate in Staunton.
Other highlights in the development of Staunton's police force include:
• The first appropriation for uniforms was made on Oct. 3, 1871. Each policeman was allowed $20 to purchase a uniform to be worn while on duty.
• The department's first motor vehicle was purchased in 1923 when a motorcycle with a sidecar was put on patrol duty.
• In the early 1920s, traffic was directed at the corner of Beverley and Augusta streets by an officer who stood in a traffic booth and turned a hand signal that was labeled "stop" and "go."
• Staunton was the first city in the state to use two-way radios in connection with police work. Under Chief John M. Webb, the first radio equipment was installed in two police cars in March 1938.