Clark County history: Law enforcement in Vancouver started with a single marshal

There seems to be a gap between Vancouver’s 1857 incorporation and any official call for law enforcement. Policing wasn’t high on the city council’s priority list until after 1880, when the census counted 1,722 inhabitants in town.

As the turn of the new century approached and the population swelled to 3,126, the city council’s concern for public safety increased. The Vancouver Independent reported regularly on city council expenditures noting amounts as small as $2 paid to individuals for “night watch,” hinting at the use of volunteers or a modest part-time security force.

A January 1882 law took an early step toward policing. The city council passed Ordinance No. 129, which provided “more effectual police regulations.” This law paid a city marshal $50 a month (about $1,555 today), made him responsible for night patrols and gave him control of the “Health and Police Committee.” With electric streetlights springing up, the law also ordered the marshal to report any fixtures that were burned out or damaged.

Ordinance No. 139, passed by the city council in December 1883, established a Vancouver police force of three men. The one serving as marshal held a two-year term at $50 a month. The Vancouver Weekly Columbian reported in 1890 the police received “a consignment of balls and chains” that would secure “tramps and criminals” who had been sentenced to labor in the streets.

During the late 1800s, police responsibilities were extended. In 1896, the city marshal organized a “smelling committee” to sniff about residents’ backyards, breathing in any stinking garbage or any other public health stench. The nocturnal sniffers were ordered to remove or burn any offensive matter they found. In 1889, Vancouver police, sheriffs, constables and city marshals acted as “ex officio” game wardens, inspecting warehouses, restaurants, cold storage, hotels and markets to enforce game laws.

The crimes early Vancouver police handled were varied, mostly minor offenses. In February 1884, the marshal reported police efforts to the city council, saying they arrested 12 people, including four helpless drunks, three drunk and disorderly, two for using abusive language and one for indecent exposure. Citizens complained saloons of selling liquor to minors and of drunken brawls, declaring the police failed to prevent such offenses.

In 1892, City Justice A.F. Toussaint accused L.C. Tomlinson, city marshal, of being in cahoots with prostitutes. The justice claimed Tomlinson arrested seven women on Sept. 6 based on a complaint from Justice of the Peace E.A. Slocum. After fining each woman $10, Toussaint indicated the marshal had received some illegal remuneration from their convictions. The justice accused Tomlinson of acting against taxpayers’ interests, and wanted the matter resolved.

Also that year, thieves fleeced the Sohns retail store. Weeks later, Portland police discovered Sohns goods in a secondhand store. The robbery resulted in a hot Vancouver Weekly Columbian editorial blaming a crime wave of vagrants, prostitutes and gamblers roaming the city proved Portland had “long dumped its criminal classes” in Vancouver.