Cactus Village Community

The Phoenix Police Museum . .An Exciting Historical Experience

Jul 21, 2003

Phoenix was incorporated as a city on Feb. 25, 1881. Law enforcement was handled by Phoenix city marshals, then later by Phoenix police officers. In the early 1900?’s the police used horses to pull patrol wagons for officers. Most patrolling then was done on foot. The city at the time was 3.1 miles square and had a population of 11,134 residents. Call boxes were used to notify officers that they were wanted by headquarters. These were supplemented by horns and flashing lights. The first Phoenix policeman killed in the line of duty was Officer Haze Burch.

In 1929 patrolmen worked 6 days a week and were paid $100.00 a month. In 1933 the first female jail matron joined the department. The city had grown to 6.4 miles and a population of 48,200. The department reorganized in 1950 into four divisions, Traffic, Detectives, Patrol and Service divisions. Officers worked 44 hours a week for $288.00 per month. In 1974 the Air Patrol was established with one helicopter. A few months later a fixed wing aircraft and two more helicopters were added.

Today, the Phoenix Police Department provides law enforcement to 1.2 million residents, covering more than 469 square miles. The department employs approximately 2,600 officers and detectives, and over 700 civilian support staff.

For an Exciting Historical Experience visit the Phoenix Police Museum at 101 S. Central Ave, Suite 100 or call 602-534-7278. The Museum is open Mon-Wed-Fri from 9am to 3pm. Admission is free. For more information visit the museum on line at http://phoenix.gov/POLICE/museum1.html
Adults as well as children will enjoy experiencing the museum and many hands on exhibits. . . ☻