1910 Willimantic Police Department
Like all cities, Willimantic required a police force to 'keep the peace.'
Staffing
In 1910 there was no police chief like we see in many modern police departments. The Police Department has 12 officers, 2 of which were a Lieutenant and a Captain. This list has been supplemented with information from the 1910 Census.
Captain: E. H. Richmond (No data)
Lieutenant: Daniel Killourey (Irish, Age: 50, Occupation: Only worked as policeman)
Patrolmen:
- John J. Manley (Connecticut-born, English descent, Age:54, Occupation: Only worked as policeman)
- Carl V. Enander (Swedish, Age: 42, Occupation: Only worked as policeman)
- Allan McArthur (Scottish, Age: 40, Occupation: Only worked as policeman)
- Louis Paulhus (French Canadian, Age: 42, Occupation: Only worked as policeman)
- Thomas F. Grady (Connecticut-born, Irish descent, Age: 37, Only worked at policeman)
- Patrick J. Hurley (Unsure, check line 4919)
- Ellery P. Weeks (No data)
- Edward P. Leahy (Unsure check, line 5865)
- Joseph Cartier (French Canadian, Age: 38, Occupation: Carpenter at general shop)
- Henry W. Chamberlain (No data)
In addition to the Lieutenant and Captain, the other 10 were patrolmen, which does not sound like a lot of officers for a city with a population of over 10,851 people at the time. For every 1 patrolman, there were approximately 1,085 people.
This ratio is in stark contrast to what we see in the Willimantic Police Department today. Currently, there are currently 44 officers sworn in the Willimantic Police Department. Based on the 2020 census we know the population of Willimantic is now 18,149. The officer to citizen ratio is 1:413. While this may still seem like a high number it is a much smaller ratio in comparison to the data from 1910 - 2020 Willimantic has 2.5 times more police per capita as it did in 1910.