Bytes of History
Metropolitan Police of D.C.
Introduction
The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia was authorized by Congress in August 1861 and the majority of the first 150 patrolmen to serve the MPD were sworn in on September 11, 1861. This collection consists primarily of documents transcribed from records located at the National Archives and transcriptions of articles from early DC newspapers. The collection contains information about approximately 3,000 men who joined the MPD prior to 1905.