|
 Oklahoma City grew rapidly after 1910, when the State
Capitol was relocated from Guthrie. As the decade turned, the urban
population passed 66,000. By 1920, it was nearly 100,000. The ballooning
population and the coming of the War presented several new challenges to
the Police Department. As in other parts of the country, war fever took
Oklahoma City by storm. Patriotic sentiment was high, and on occasion,
overzealous citizens brought the war home by committing acts of vandalism
on German-owned businesses. Drifters passed through the City in increasing
numbers, and police officers were charged with searching out draft evaders
from among the transients. As Chief of the Department from 1916-1919, W.B.
Nichols ordered the confiscation of seditious and pro-German books, under
direction from the U.S. Department of Justice.
As the War ended and the Teens became the Twenties, the Oklahoma City
Police Department began a period of unprecedented growth. By expanding
from a total force of 90 officers in 1920 to 150 in 1923, the Department
reflected a realization that modern times required a modernized police
force. The appearance of the automobile on Oklahoma streets changed the
face of law enforcement by encouraging the establishment of the Traffic
Department and the first motorcycle squad during the late Teens. A small
mounted patrol soon followed, patrolling residential districts and
directing traffic at busy intersections. Shortly before the War, a
Gamewell electric call box system was installed on city street corners,
and beat officers were required to report to the Operator at least once
every hour.
The rules governing the conduct of on-duty officers were strict. Smoking
while in uniform was prohibited, as was the pursuit of another job, even
while off-duty. As a rule book from the period states, "All members
of the Police Department shall be considered as ALWAYS on duty and the
same responsibility for the suppression of disturbance and the arrest of
offenders rests upon them when not in uniform as when on post of
duty."
As the Twenties ended, the American economy was reaching a point of
crisis. In Oklahoma in the early Thirties, a severe drought forced many
rural farmers, unable to pay their mortgages, to uproot and head west in
search of opportunity. In Oklahoma City, unemployment was high as
industrial plants curtailed operations. With the New Deal, public works
jobs became particularly attractive, and the Department experienced a
rapid rise in job applications. Work conditions for officers were austere
throughout the Depression. Patrolmen drove their rounds in unheated cars,
and on cold winter days placed warmed bricks wrapped in blankets on the
floor next to their feet. Wool uniforms provided some relief from the
cold, but when the summer came, the heat almost became too much to bear.
Still, at $100 per month, the Police Department was one of the most
attractive employers in town.
The business of bootlegging exhibited an increase in popularity during the
Depression. Busting the liquor rackets became a major responsibility of
the Oklahoma City Police Department during the Thirties. The installation
of radio communication in police vehicles significantly enhanced the
pursuit and patrol capabilities of Police officers. Under Chief John Watt,
vice and bootlegging law enforcement was attended to with renewed vigor
and success.
|
