Eureka Police Department's 125th Anniversary Newsletter Series
Issue 1, Issue 2, Issue 3, Issue 4, Issue 5
At the March 27th, 1858 meeting, the Board expanded Marshal Atcheson’s duties to include keeping the dock clear and safe and collecting wharf fees. He was also to serve legal papers and be the town Fire Chief with the authority to hire all persons needed to extinguish any fire.
On February 20, 1860, a group of citizens calling themselves the "Home
Guard" went to Indian Island and “punished” the Indians by killing
seventy-seven members of the Wiyot tribe. The victims included many
women and children.
Even with the presence of the Army, it was
still unsafe to wander outside Eureka. There were still a lot of outlaw
whites in the area and they had taken to hiring Indians to kill for
them, then make land claims on the murdered person’s property. When this
practice of stealing homesteads came to the attention of President
Cleveland, he dispatched a Special Agent to the area. As a result, two
hundred land claims were cancelled, totaling 60,000 acres.
The Marshal and the Army took care of law enforcement until 1865, when Fort
Humboldt was decommissioned. Eureka’s population was at 600. For the
next ten years, law enforcement was handled by the Marshal, but the town
was growing fast and bars along the waterfront were established at a
rapid rate. Twenty-three bar permits were approved at a single Council
meeting. Prostitutes moved into the area to take care of the growing
male population.
Nighttime activity was increasing rapidly in 1875, so at the July 6 Common Council Meeting (the term Common Council replaced the Board of Trustees) a “Night Policeman” was appointed. This officer was assigned duties as follows under Ordinance 15 of July 6, 1875:
On
September 4, 1876, a city prison was established at Engine House No. 2
for the Marshal and night policeman. The Marshal worked days and the
policeman worked nights.
On June 9, 1887 the council enacted
Ordinance 110 and designated the Marshal as the Acting Chief of Police.
This ordinance increased the size of the police force and gave the Chief
the following duties:
Ordinance 110 also established some guidelines for the police force as follows:
On
July 8, 1895, H.B. Hitchings was named the first full time Chief of
Police of Eureka. Four other officers were also named. They were: Ed
Conant, F.G. Barnum, E.A. Chamberlain and J.A. Armstrong. Hitching
wanted his officers in uniform, and a month later on August 5, 1895, the
council adopted a uniform ordinance.
The first policemen in
Eureka were selected for their size and ability to handle themselves in
fights rather than for their intelligence. Most were ex-loggers and of
good size.
During the early 1900’s, problems in the United
States had a huge effect on the City’s police force. The population of
Eureka grew from 600 in 1865, to 13,000 in 1912. Burly policemen were
added as the population increased.
In April of 1917, the United States entered into World War I. The next
year, the deadly Spanish influenza spread across America, killing over
200 people in Humboldt County alone, most of whom were young men.
Several soldiers from prominent families died on trains while traveling
across the country to enter the war.
These two events are
reflected in the types of arrests made by Eureka officers during these
times. Many arrests were made for “failing to wear masks while in
public,” a law enacted to prevent the spread of the flu.
Another common arrest was for “spitting on the sidewalks”. There were three reasons for this law:
Prior to entering the war and during the war there were many arrests for “going north of fourth.” These were always persons born in Germany or Italy. These nationalities were not allowed near the docks. Beginning in 1915, there had been incidents of sabotage on the docks in other cities. The fear was that it could occur here.
The Volstead Act in 1919 made it illegal to sell alcohol until its repeal
in1933. However, even prior to the Volstead Act, it was illegal to sell
alcohol to Indians. The Police blotters were rife with persons charged
with selling alcohol to Indians or to “half breeds.”
During the prohibition period there were many “speakeasies” in the area now known
as “Old Town.” In fact, some of the old iron gates which were erected in
an attempt to keep the police out (or at least slow them down) can
still be found today in the alley behind Second Street. The first female
mayor, Emily Jones, was known to accompany Police Chief George
Littlefield on raids on the speakeasies with her hatchet.
There have always been prostitutes in Eureka, and early on they were arrested
for being “sporting women.” The prostitutes thrived in Eureka but were
relegated to houses in what was called the “red light district.” They
became street walkers in the early 1950s, after then Attorney General
Edmond Brown closed the houses in the State, which helped to propel him
into the Governor’s office. The fear at the time was that the east coast
Mafia would take over the industry.
Prior to their closure, the
women were under the control of a madam, were not allowed to drink
while working, and were checked regularly by doctors. Drugs did not
exist. Many of the houses were very plush. Sgt. Robert Wiley and his
night crew would raid the houses (19 houses within several blocks of the
police station at Third and G Streets) and would load the ladies onto
buses bound for San Francisco. District Attorney Harold Hammond filed
red light abatement proceedings and the houses closed forever. Eureka
was the last bastion of open prostitution in California.
With
the women on the street and without their madams looking after them,
pimps took over and drugs soon followed. For several years the girls
were street walkers with pimps looking after them. In the early sixties
as the liquor licenses were moved out of the area by Alcohol Beverage
Control and Police, the bars were replaced with all night coffee houses,
some of which did not open until after 2 a.m.
These coffee
houses are where men could find the girls and after hour alcohol from
bootleggers. The joke at that time was that more alcohol was sold in the
coffee houses then when they were bars. One such coffee house, the
Rainbow club, was targeted by Sgt. Murl Harpham who used officers from
outside agencies to pose as “Johns” to arrest prostitutes out of that
club. In an eight month period of time 67 girls were arrested and the
place was closed under the Red Light Abatement law which had not been
enforced since 1954.
In his book, “ The Last Days of
California”, author Curt Gentry wrote glowingly about Jackson,
California and its two houses of prostitution which were closed in the
early 1950s. He was missing a bet about not writing about Eureka since
there were seventeen more such houses.
Another major event in Eureka’s history which affected the Police Department was a major strike-turned-riot at the Holmes-Eureka Sawmill in 1935. The Holmes sawmill was situated on the property where the Bayshore Mall is now located. When a major fight erupted between the strikers and the strike-breakers, Chief Littlefield and other officers responded. During the fray, five officers were overcome and beaten, and three persons were shot and killed.
Eureka Police had its’ heartbreaks over the years with the loss of officers acting in the line of duty.
On Halloween Night of 1945, the only two police units on duty were both
responding to a jail break at Juvenile Hall at 6th and I Streets. Police
radios would not come for several years, so the units had no
communication. When they did not hear each other’s sirens, they collided
at the intersection of 7th and H Streets, killing Officer Pete Carroll,
age 55.
On December 1, 1974 there was a major riot at Eureka’s
Municipal Auditorium. All on-duty EPD officers, as well as several CHP
and Sheriffs’ units, were busy at the riot when a silent burglary alarm
sounded at Cannam’s Market at Huntoon and I Streets. Two off duty
officers, Sgt. Fred Keplinger and Officer Pat Mitchell, happened to be
in the station, and since all on-duty personnel were at the riot, they
volunteered to respond to the market. They were southbound on H Street
when a vehicle leaving the auditorium ran a stop sign at 16th Street,
broad siding the officers’ car. Their car burst into flames, trapping
Pat Mitchell inside. He was 26 years old.
On November 21, 1996,
Detective Charles Swanson (a lifelong friend of Pat Mitchell) and
Detective Pat Freese were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a
subject wanted for rape, molestation, and burglary. When the suspect
attempted to flee in his vehicle, he crashed into a ditch. He then
attempted to flee on foot, with Swanson in close pursuit. When he and
Freese caught the suspect, there was a struggle. Once the handcuffs were
on the suspect, Detective Swanson, age 47, fell dead of a heart attack.
The original city hall was located at 3rd and G Streets which is now a
parking lot. It once was home for the Police Department, Fire House,
City Courts and all other city offices. It was damaged beyond repair in
the 1954 earthquake and everyone was ordered to vacate the building
except the Police Department.
The Police Department remained in the condemned building until July 1, 1960 when
they moved into the first floor of the new County Courthouse at 4th and J
Streets. The old court house had also been condemned in the 1954
earthquake.
The Police Department remained in the County Court house for 21 years until December 15, 1981.
At that time they moved in with the firemen at the main firehouse at
6th C Streets while the new police department was being planned and
constructed across the street.
The Eureka Police Department moved to the present building at 6th and C Streets in November of 1986