Hello writerguy-ga,
As you probably know, this is a broad topic, with answers that can
vary from place to place, and from one time to another in the same
place. For example, the burdens on the police department in a small
city, or a city with little military presence, might have differed
from those in a large city, or a city with a large and changing
military presence.
I have endeavored to find information on a reasonably diverse cross
section of police departments. I will attempt a general summary of
this information, with citations at the end to the specific web pages
so that you can compare and contrast them.
It seems that you have a good sense of many of the problems already.
Indeed, many police departments were hit with manpower shortages when
men were drafted. Moreover, they had to face the new challenge of
civil defense and (in the case of some state troopers) other
war-related duties. Some cities (such as San Antonio and Fort
Lauderdale) had a higher crime rate due to the presence of many
servicemen, and some cities (such as Los Angeles and Detroit) endured
"race riots".
Some departments responded by forming auxiliary or reserve police
units, sometimes including women. A technology introduced around the
beginning of the war, two-way radios, helped make some departments
more responsive.
In southern California, some departments organized efforts to deal
with young predominately Mexican-American gangs, or "pachucos".
However, the "Zoot Suit Riots" indicate a failure in police response
to the problems between servicemen and "pachuco" gangs.
In general, the shortage of police officers appears to have been a
problem that could not be fully overcome in places of high crime.
This is illustrated by the race riots in Detroit in 1943 in which 34
people were killed, and by three days of looting and vandalism in San
Francisco at the end of the war which left 11 people dead.
Here are my sources for this information:
"Welcome to the Anaheim Police Department's History: 1940s"
City of Anaheim Police Department
http://www.anaheim.net/depts_servc/police/history/1940.htm
"Detroit Race Riots 1943"
"The American Experience: Eleanor Roosevelt"
PBS: WGBH
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eleanor/peopleevents/pande10.html
"A History of The Fort Lauderdale Police Department" [scroll down to
"World War II"
Fort Lauderdale Police Department
http://ci.ftlaud.fl.us/police/history.html
"The Zoot-Suit and Style Warfare", by Stuart Cosgrove (History
Workshop Journal, Vol. 18 (Autumn 1984) pp. 77-91, by permission of
Oxford University Press.)
Smithsonian National Museum of American History: Jerome and Dorothy
Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
http://www.si.edu/lemelson/centerpieces/whole_cloth/u7sf/u7materials/cosgrove.html
"1940's: The Outfit Goes to War"
New Jersey Department of Law & Public Safety: Division of New Jersey
State Police
http://www.njsp.org/about/40s.html
"The 1940s"
New York State Police
http://www.troopers.state.ny.us/Intro/Hist/Hist1940-49.html
"SAPD History : 1930s & 1940s" [scroll down to "SAPD During the
1940s"]
San Antonio Police Department
http://www.ci.sat.tx.us/sapd/history2_30s.htm
"San Francisco Police Department: World War II Years"
Museum of the City of San Francisco
http://www.sfmuseum.org/sfpd/sfpd6.html
"1940 - 1959"
Trenton Police Museum
http://trentonpolice.com/police_museum/1940-1959.htm
"The Wauwatosa Police Department: A Proud History of Service,
Commitment, and Progress" [scroll down to "1940's, Technology advances
and World War II"
City of Wauwatosa, WI
http://www.wauwatosa.net/wsp/wspTosaContentTemplate.asp?DOCID=767
I hope that this information is helpful.
- justaskscott-ga
Search terms used on Google:
policemen "world war ii" "civil defense"
police "world war ii" "civil defense"
police history 1940s
police history 1940's "world war"
"auxiliary police" "world war ii"
"police museum" "world war ii"
"zoot suit riots" detroit "race riots" "world war ii"
[I tried other searches as well, but these resulted in the pages I
have cited.] |
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