Boston Police Relief Association

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As one of the oldest police departments in the United States, the Boston Police Department has a history and a well-established presence in the Boston community. The initiation of a formal department began in 1838, when the General Court passed a bill allowing the city of Boston to appoint police officers. The department was structured after the model developed by Sir Robert Peele for the London Police force. The Boston Police Department was one of the first paid, professional public safety departments in the country. During the years, the police department responded to a range of public safety issues from nightwalkers to armed robberies to homicides and to public crises, such as the Great Fire. The department is equipped with the most advanced identification imaging, ballistics identification technology and a DNA laboratory. The Boston Police Department has an office in Hyde Park, Mass.