Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

instituted a "Code Noir" in 1685, which Sieur de Bienville, the founder of theFrench colony of Louisiana, copied; the Spanish retained it as their own whilethey controlled the city; and the Americans re-enacted it as the "Black Code."159In 1804, as the Black population nearly equaled that of the White, 16 0 NewOrleans sought out special mechanisms for enforcing these laws. At thetime, two separate night patrols were in effect-a militia guard, to protectagainst outside attack, and a watch, called the "seranos," whose primary dutywas lighting the street lamps. But in 1804 the militia organized a mountedpatrol specifically to enforce the Black Codes.161 This unit only survived afew months, however. After repeated conflicts between the English-speakingmilitia guard and the French-speaking army, the patrol was disbanded in1805, replaced with the Gendarmerie.The Gendarmerie, while nominally a military unit, functioned more as aslave patrol than anything else. The law establishing it made this clear:They will make rounds in suspected places where slaves can congregate,particularly on Sundays. They will break up these assemblies, foreseeand prevent uproars and gambling, and declare confiscated all moneysfound for their own profit.. .. The officers accompanied by all or part oftheir troop, and equipped with orders from the mayor, shaIl search negrohuts on plantations, but only after looking for and then notifying the overseeror owner of their actions, as well as inviting them to be present at thesearch. And all fire-arms, lances, swords, etc. that shall be found in thesaid cabins will be confiscated and deposited in the City arsenal. 1 6 2The Gendarmerie also arrested slaves traveling without passes and maintaineda reserve of officers for daytime emergencies.163While 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.164 In many respects, then,the New Orleans patrol closely resembled the Charleston Guard of thesame period, but it survived only briefly. In February 1806 the city councilabolished the Gendarmerie, citing the cost of horses and the poor quality ofthe men.165 That same year, the council created a City Guard, modeled afterand performing the same functions as the Gendarmerie, though less militaristicin demeanor and lacking the horses.166 Aside from two years whenthere was no patrol, this body survived unti1 1836.167In the 1830s the City Guard came under attack in the newspapers, courtrooms,and among politicians. In 1834, the Louisiana Advertiser accused thepolice of "barbarism" and "despotism." It urged the city council todispense with the sword and pistol, the musket and bayonet, in our civiladministration of republican laws, and adopt or create a system more congenialto our feelings, to the opinions and interests of a free and prosperouspeople, and more in accordance with the spirit of the age we live in.168That same year a committee of the city council decried the Guard's violenttreatment of suspects, saying that "the moment they lay hands on a prisonerthey at once commence a system of violence towards him."169 It was police47