Troy's first law enforcement was a series of hired and then elected constables that served the wards of the new emerging city. In 1851, the city established a Night Police Force. The Night Force Committee of the Common Council had the ultimate authority of this force acting as one police superintendent and consisted of Alderman Alexander Halstead (7th ward), Hiram Smith (3rd Ward) and Winant Bennett (6th Wad). They hired Amasa Copp as the first chief. Copp was popular and the now often used slang "Cop" is attributed to him.
Troy's first group of policemen belonging to this new night force was Henry Campbell, John Symonds, and Edgar Allen. George Capron, Valentine Geist. James Delany, James Murphy, James Carson, Patrick Clifford, Calvin Green, William B. Campbell, Michael Mahon, Daniel McAdams, Thomas L. Ayres, Charles Allen, Michael Guy, John Austin, Thomas Sayles, William Taplin, William Flack, Dennis Glennon, Richard Green, Jr., Samuel Place, Thomas K. Murray, Alexander Wheeler, Samuel Edmondson, Patrick Ryan, Patrick Regan, John O'Brien, Henry McGrath, William H. Bonesteel, Patrick Casey, James H. Ballard, William Wallace, Joseph Mostyn, John Tomey, Simon Swartwout, Royal C. Levings, John Lockwood, Michael Quinn. Elbridge G. Wellington, Henry Lowell, Michael Brennon, Lorenzo D. Ford, Spencer Hulbert, Frederick Bonesteel, Edwin R. Smith, Peter Roberts. Backups or supernumeraries were William Holmes, Richard Tobin, John Higgins, Daniel Agan, William Noonan, Hugh Horrigan, Joseph Linmer, Robert Rogers, Sidney Wright, Peter Lavine, Kerun Egan, and Stephen Duffy.
In 1851, the number of wards of Troy increased when the sixth ward was divided into the sixth and ninth wards, and the seventh ward into the tenth and seventh wards. In 1854, the Night Police Force was subdivided into three squads. The salary of the Chief of the Night Police was fixed at four hundred dollars a year in 1857.
Copp was replaced with Timothy Quinn as Chief of the Night Police in 1859 and the police headquarters set at 99 First Street. Each of the three divisions of the force had a Roundsman. Michael Guy, Charles H. Cleavland and Thomas H. Peck were the first Roundsmen.
At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, the Force was divided into three divisions, with about twenty-five members each. The first captains of these divisions were Charles R. Squire, James C. Moss and Jacob M. Wood. The following year a detective division was created and headquartered at 86 Second Street. There were two members, Walter L. Kipp and Lemuel Hurlburt.
Where did prisoners go when arrested? The first county jail was erected in 1793 on the SW corner of the alley behind the first Court house, located basically the same as it is today. The jail was a two-story brick building.
A whipping-post and a pair of stocks were placed in the Court House yard in 1795. John Weden was the first man to be publicly whipped for horse stealing. On Saturday evening, November 14, 1795, he received forty lashes in the presence of a large crowd.
In 1826, a new brick jail was built on the NW corner of Ferry and Fifth with a capacity of 126 prisoners. On Tuesday afternoon, January 28, 1845, William Miller, a German, was the first to be hung in the jail for the murder of George West, a German resident of Sandlake. The execution took place in the upper hall of the jail where gallows had been erected, in front of the Sheriff and about fifty citizens.
The police force was doing a suitable job by all measures but this was to change in 1865, when the legislature passed the Capitol Police District Act in 1865. It abolished all police forces in Troy, Albany, Bethlehem, the villages of West Troy, Green Island, and Cohoes, the village of Lansingburgh, and the towns of North Greenbush and Greenbush, and within the County of Schenectady, all that territory covered by and included within the lines of property of the New York Central Railroad between the cities of Albany and Schenectady. This area was united into one Capital Police Force.
The Capital Police Force was composed of a Superintendent, a Deputy Superintendent, Captains of Capital Police, Sergeants and Patrolmen. Three Commissioners and Two Advisory Commissioners were appointed by the Governor on the passage of the act, who were the chief officers of the Capital Police. One Commissioner and one Advisory Commissioner had to reside in the city of Troy, and one Commissioner and one Advisory Commissioner in the city of Albany. Their term of office was six years. This system of successful policing lasted for only five years, and was abolished on April 29, 1870. Troy and Lansingburgh would immediately get their own police departments back.