While drawn from the military, this group was directed by the mayor,magistrates, and other civil officials, and was paid through a combination ofsalaries, fees, and rewards. Half mounted, half on foot, and all wearing blueuniforms, the same men patrolled every night.[314] In many respects, then, theNew Orleans patrol closely resembled the Charleston Guard of the same period,but it survived only briefly. In February 1806 the city council abolished theGendarmerie, citing the cost of horses and the poor quality of the men.[315]That same year, the council created a City Guard, modeled after and performingthe same functions as the Gendarmerie, though less militaristic in demeanor andlacking the horses.[316] Aside from two years when there was no patrol, thisbody survived until 1836.[317]
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Wood refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Metropolitan Police Law andordered the police to obey only his authority. Eight hundred officers andfifteen captains sided with Wood, and about half as many joined theMetropolitans. For two months the city had two competing police forces,resulting in occasional street fights and brawls in the station houses. Theconflict reached its peak when fifty Metropolitans tried to arrest Wood; 500municipal police came to his defense, attacking the Metropolitans with theirclubs and forcing a retreat. Finally, in July, after an appeals court ruled infavor of the Metropolitans, Wood dissolved the municipal police.[355]
In the 1907 Louisville election, when a Republican was unexpectedly electedmayor, every captain was reduced to a patrolman, and Republicans (many lackingin police experience) were appointed in their place. When the Democrats won inthe following election, the process was reversed. Again in 1917, theRepublicans gained control and fired 300 from a department of 429. Everyoneabove the rank of sergeant was replaced.[363]
In less routine actions, White mobs sometimes attacked individual Black people,Black political assemblies, and White Republicans. These attacks often involvedthe police as participants, or even leaders. For example, in April 1866, aftera crowd of African American Union Army veterans prevented the Memphis policefrom arresting two of their comrades, the cops led White mobs through thestreets attacking Black people at random. Mounted squads headed by police rodethrough Black neighborhoods, beating anyone they found on the streets andsetting fire to schools, churches, and homes. The attack lasted four days,until martial law was declared. Forty-six Black and two White people died;ninety-one houses, twelve schools, and four churches were burned.[484]
Progressive efforts encouraged legalistic administration and promotedtransparency, but these gains were only really extended to the White,Protestant, native-born, English-speaking middle and upper classes. Thetransition, then, was from a populist gangsterism to an elitist republicanism.The Progressive movement replaced machine politics with class rule. 2ff7e9595c
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