U.S. Park Police

History

The U.S. Park Police claims to be America's oldest federal uniformed law enforcement agency. Its origins hearken back to 1791 when President George Washington appointed park watchmen to patrol and protect Washington's evolving parklands and federal buildings. Police authority created for the capital city did not extend to federal property until 1834 when the city was given full responsibility for protecting federal grounds. By 1854, however, Congress was not satisfied with the attention paid to federal grounds by the city and so it began hiring additional federal watchmen to protect the areas surrounding the Capitol and the White House. These watchmen were civilians under the administrative supervision of the army's commissioner of public buildings.

In the next 30 years, public monuments and federal park areas grew rapidly, as did their usage. In 1880, Congress appointed an additional dozen watchmen to expand the numbers of the emerging federal park grounds police force. Park watchmen were given the same powers and duties as Washington's Metropolitan Police Force by congressional legislation in 1882. Their activities at this time were overseen by the chief of the Army Corps of Engineers, with direct supervision from the public gardener, since in addition to their protection duties, they also performed landscaping and gardening activities. By 1903, the force had grown to 30 watchmen and their duties increasingly focused on enforcement of laws and regulations.

In 1919, Congress officially named the 60 park watchmen the U.S. Park Police. In the next 11 years, Congress expanded park police jurisdiction beyond Washington to encompass the Mount Vernon and George Washington Memorial parkways. In 1933, the USPP was assigned to be part of the NPS under the Department of the Interior. The next year, a horse-mounted unit was established to aid in large crowd-control situations, making it one of the oldest police equestrian organizations in the country. The USPP again increased its jurisdiction in 1948 to cover federal lands within six counties in Virginia, the city of Alexandria, and four counties in Maryland. For the next 20 years the USPP shared responsibility for general policing around the Washington, D.C., area with particular emphasis on the public parks and monuments.

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