Sacramento Police Department

The founding of the City of Sacramento was a turbulent one - a beginning when life was cheap, the stakes were high and a large percentage of the population acted with the philosophy "it was every man for himself in his own backyard."

By 1849, Sacramento had grown rapidly from a small settlement at Sutter's Fort to a town of 10,000 people. The discovery of gold had brought people from all walks of life together. Sacramento had all the problems of a Wild West town. There were murders, robberies, shootings, and various other crimes committed in the city. In the summer of 1849, the city experienced its first lynching when a gambler named Roe was convicted by a citizens' committee and hanged for murder. On August 1, 1849, the City of Sacramento was founded when the first meeting of a Common Council was held. At that time, the City boundaries were north to the American river, east to 31st Street, south to Y Street and west to the Sacramento River, encompassing 4.5 square miles. N. C. Cunningham was appointed as the first City Marshall (the position now known as Chief of Police) and was given two deputies to enforce the law.

The city did not have a building for a police station or jail, so in May 1850, the ship, LaGrange, was moored at the foot of H Street on the river and officially became the police station and jail boat.

As a result of the Gold Rush in 1852, Sacramento had grown in size until the population had reached 150,000 persons. The Police Department was also increased to six men. In addition to normal police duties, these six officers had to deal with the first Chinese Tong War to ever occur outside of China. Also, the most ambitious murder plot ever recorded in the West occurred during this period. Three men, one of them the Public Administrator, plotted to kill 55 leading wealthy Sacramentans for their money. The Police Department identified the murderers and arrested two of them after the first killing. Both men were subsequently convicted and hanged for their crime.

The Police Department grew slowly from 1849 to 1913 when it had 36 officers. The men of the Department patrolled the city on foot and on bicycles. The Department had two bicycles at that time. A typical bicycle beat covered about one half of the entire city, or about 200 square blocks. In those years, the Department did not have radio equipment. Communication between the Police Station and the beat officers was accomplished by telephones located in specially designated "call boxes" distributed throughout the city for this purpose.

Modern police history, as we now know it, began in 1917. The city's population had declined to just 90,000 people after the Gold Rush boom, but the Department now totaled 100 men. During this period, other changes were made: the Department moved into the new Hall of Justice building at 6th and I Streets; the use of modern, fast automobiles had been incorporated as a new tool in police work; the Department had developed an experienced, well-trained detective bureau and possessed one of the finest fingerprint bureaus in the country. At this point, police operations had begun to enter fields of specialization.

In the late 1980s the department purchased the SIG Sauer P225-A1 9mm semi-automatic to help replace some of the agency’s older revolvers. Currently officers are armed with either the Sig Sauer P226R or Sig Sauer P229R both chambered for .40 S&W. Prior, the older P226 and P229 were in 9mm.

In the 2016, two officers tried to run over and then fatally shot Joseph Mann, an African American man armed with a knife who was about 27 feet away.[5][6] In 2017, the Sacramento County District Attorney cleared the two officers of any legal wrongdoing, concluding that they were justified in shooting Mann,[7] but after an internal investigation by the Sacramento Police Department, neither Tennis nor Lozoya remain on the force.[8]

The department is larger now and uses newer and more scientific methods in fighting and solving crimes. They use vehicles including patrol cars, motorcycles, bicycles, mounted horses, and helicopters.

Rank	Insignia
Chief
Deputy chief
Captain
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Police officer

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Since the establishment of the Sacramento Police Department, 18 officers have been recognized as deaths in the line of duty.[11]

Chief of Police Erskine G. Fish was remembered by the radio series Dragnet, in the end of the 9th episode, which aired on August 4, 1949.

As of 2018, there have been 16 deaths in total. Most fallen officers were lost due to gunfire, 11 officers died in gunfire, 1 officer died in an accidental gun firing.1 officer died of a heart attack, 2 officers died of a motorcycle accident, 1 officer died in a vehicular assault, and 2 officers died in a vehicular pursuit.[12]

• List of law enforcement agencies in California
• Sacramento County Sheriff's Department

• Official website
• Sacramento Police Department K9 Association