Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department

Write a Review912-652-6500

The colony of Georgia was established by the British to buffer its other colonies to the north from the Spanish in Florida. In 1733, General James Oglethorpe led an expedition which founded the City of Savannah on the bluffs overlooking the Savannah River, thirteen miles from the Atlantic Ocean. By 1796, with Savannah growing, the city’s leadership saw the need for a system of patrols to protect the town. On June 20, 1796, a “guard and watch” was created with a staff of 28 men commanded by a Captain. This early force of peace-keepers did only night duty, going to work at twilight and serving until the “beat of reveille.” By January of 1812, officers were wearing distinctive brass-buttoned uniforms. Savannah’s Guard and Watch grew steadily in the years prior to the Civil War. Records from 1852 list its strength as 86 men under the command of Captain of Police Francis M. Stone. The 1860 Annual Report listed the Department’s expenses for that year at $39,113.94; a police private in 1860 was paid $500 per year. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Yankees were believed a greater threat than criminals. The police were furnished with muskets and drilled as infantry in the town’s squares, much as their ancestors had done a century earlier.