"To Serve and Protect"

The Charlotte Police Department posed for this picture in 1910. Seated, from left to right: Hugh Shields, Cliff Bell, J.T. Farrington, J.D. Johnson, B.J. Summerow.  Standing left to right: M.M. Earnhart, Charles Ayers, Lee Hargett, J.E. Crowell and J.M. Earnhart.

The modern police force first forms in Charlotte in 1866 with one chief and eight patrolman. In 1901, the city hired sixteen additional policeman. Their offices were in the City Hall. At this time, it was against the law to:

• Swear in public.
• Open a barber shop on Sunday.
• Play any sport on the city streets.
• Shoot a bow and arrow in the city limits.
• Race rabbits or hares in the streets.

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