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Metropolitan Police Department

The Metropolitan Police Department has been Washington’s city police force since 1861, when Congress established it to maintain order in a capital suddenly flooded with soldiers and refugees. These posts explore the MPD’s history, from its Civil War origins and the colorful officers who defined its early years to the crime waves and reforms that shaped modern policing in DC.

38 stories
A man in a long white apron stands in front of a small wooden lunch stand covered with hand-painted signsHell’s Bottom: The History of a Notorious NeighborhoodUpdated Oct 24Washington Daily News front page of October 13, 1926, headlined Ace of D.C. Detectives Slain on Wedding Day, with a portrait of Detective Arthur B. ScrivenerArthur Scrivener: Murder or Suicide in a Georgetown Alley, 1926Updated Oct 17Hand-colored 1860 lithograph showing the long Gothic Revival St. Elizabeths Hospital building with carriages and pedestrians in the foreground.Dallas Williams, the Bad Man of SwampoodleUpdated May 30

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Bathing suit police and the segregated Tidal Basin beachUpdated May 18Fire and Police Station location s in 1880Where to Find Fire and Police Stations in Washington in 1880?Updated May 30, 2014Which President Got a Speeding Ticket on a Horse?Updated Mar 4, 2014Finally Found Another Photo of Officer Sprinkle!Updated Nov 27, 2013Officer Sprinkle and His Brother: A Photograph from the National Law Enforcement MuseumUpdated Nov 25, 2013Washington Post obituaries - January 4th, 1933Remembering Raymond B. Sprinkle – The Son of Officer SprinkleUpdated Nov 7, 2013
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