LE History Timeline

Boston establishes first law enforcement system in the 13 colonies. Called the night watch, officers were part-time with no pay.

1636 (April)

Boston hires first full-time paid law enforcement officers in the 13 colonies.

1712

U.S. Congress creates the U.S. Marshals; 13 original marshals appointed by President George Washington.

1789 (September 24)

Sheriff Cornelius Hogeboom of Hudson, New York was shot and killed attempting to serve a writ of ejectment becoming the first known law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty.

1791 (October 22)

Sir Robert Peel reforms modern law enforcement operations, and implemented his 9 Peelian Principles, resulting in "Bobbies" becoming the protectors of persons and property.

1822

Texas creates the first state-wide law enforcement agency, the Texas Rangers.

1835

Officers in Boston and Chicago are issued uniforms

1858

City of Boston becomes first agency to issue its officers pistols

1863

George Eastman's revolutionary Kodak camera became widely available and could be used to photograph and document crime scenes.

1888

Chicago PD assigns Marie Owens, first female sworn police officer to detective bureau

1891 (December 16)

Fingerprinting is first used in the United States by law enforcement

1902

Berkeley (CA) Police Dept. first agency in U.S. to have all patrol officers using automobiles.

1914

The single deadliest year in law enforcement history, with 304 officers killed.

1930

Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit is killed by Lee Harvey Oswald after he assassinates President John F. Kennedy

1963 (November 22)

Watts Riots (Los Angeles, California) erupt after a young black female, Marquette Faye Young is stopped by Lee Minikos, a white California Highway Patrolman for suspected drunk driving and a roadside fight ensues. Accusations of racism and police brutality led to the 5 day riot which resulted in 34 deaths, 3438 arrests, looting and arson that caused $40 million in damage.

1965 (August 11-16)

First Special Weapons and Tactics team (SWAT) used by LAPD to protect President Lyndon Johnson from protestors.

1967

4 California Highway Patrolmen died in a 4 minute gun battle with 2 heavily armed suspects. The Newhall Incident as it has became known, reverberated throughout the law enforcement community and led to major reforms in training procedures, firearms use, and arrest techniques.

1970 (April 6)

Lon Anderson invents the PR-24 side handle baton which revolutionized law enforcement officers' ability to defend themselves in physically resistive encounters.

1972

Police officers began wearing soft body armor to protect themselves against handgun assaults.

1974

Digital and computer forensics are first developed by the F.B.I. to examine computer evidence.

1984

DNA evidence first used in criminal court. Sexual predator and rapist Tommie Lee Andrews becomes first person convicted as a result of DNA evidence.

1987

4 white LAPD officers are acquitted after being charged in the beating of Rodney King, a black male stopped for speeding and fleeing from police. A 4 day riot ensued encompassing the city of Los Angeles. The incident resulted in 63 deaths, and 4000+ injuries. The looting and arson caused $1 billion in damage.

1992

4 Special Agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms were killed attempting to execute a search warrant at the Branch Davidian Compound in Waco, Texas.

1993 (February 28)

Timothy McVeigh explodes a truck bomb that destroys the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The blast kills 168 people, including 8 Federal law enforcement officers.

1995 (April 19)

Two heavily armed robbers, Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu, engage in a dramatic shootout trying to escape after holding up a local Bank of America branch in North Hollywood, resulting in 20 injuries (12 officers), and over 2000 rounds being fired.

1997 (February 28)

2 students attack Columbine (CO.) High School, killing 13 students and teachers, and wounding 23 more before killing themselves in the library. The incident sparked a dramatic change in law enforcement's response to Active Shooter Events

1999 (April 20)

Brothers Rick and Tom Smith, owners of TASER International, introduce the re-engineered TASER M-26 as a less lethal, conducted electrical weapon which causes neuro-muscular incapacitation (NMI), as a safer alternative for police to subdue physically resistive subjects.

2000

The deadliest day in law enforcement history occurred when 72 officers were killed while responding to the terrorists attacks on America.

2001

The Department of Homeland Security is formed to lead the unified national effort to secure America

2002

A South Korean student opens fire on the campus of Virginia Tech University, killing 32 students and professors before killing himself.

2007

A lone gunman entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, opened fire and killed 26 people, 20 of which were elementary school children.

2012 (December 14)

A lone gunman opens fire in a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and injuring 58 more.

2012 (July 12)

Terrorists detonate explosives at the finish line of the Boston Marathon killing 3 people, and injuring 283.

2013 (April 15)

Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year old black male suspected of an armed robbery, was shot and killed by Darrel Wilson, a white Ferguson (MO) police officer, after Brown aggressively approached Wilson refusing to comply with verbal commands. Riots ensued resulting in 400 arrests, 750+ injuries, and looting and arson that caused $ 5.7 million in damages.

2014 (August 9)

2 terrorists carry out an attack on the Inland Regional Center in San Bernadino, California, killing 14 people, and injuring 22.

2015 (December 2)

5 Dallas (TX) PD officers are shot and killed, 9 injured, in an ambush attack by a shooter who was angry over recent police officer involved shootings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota where young black males were shot and killed by police.

2016 (July 7)

A 29 year old security guard open fire inside of the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people, and injuring 53.

2016 (June 12)

59 people are killed and 515 injured at an outdoor Country Music concert on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, by a sniper who opened fire into the crowd with high-powered weapons from a 32nd floor hotel room that faced the concert venue

2017 (October 1)