Pre 1800

Glasgow Police Pioneers

1779

Glasgow Magistrates appoint James Buchanan as Inspector and establish a Police force of eight police officers. This force failed through lack of finance in 1781.

Six Glasgow Magistrates

Six Magistrates – Original Document

1788

Six Glasgow Magistrates, namely:

  • John Campbell Jnr. (Lord Provost)
  • John Dunlop (Merchant Baillie)
  • John Alston Jnr. (Merchant Baillie)
  • Ninian Glen (Trades Baillie)
  • Alex Low (Dean of Guild)
  • John Tennent (Deacon Convenor)

The six Magistrates displayed vision and innovation in setting out their proposals insisting that the force would be run by a Watch Committee of elected citizens, known as Commissioners.
The force would wear uniforms with numbered badges with ‘Police’ inscribed on them and each member would lodge £50 to guarantee their good conduct. The force of eight would provide twenty-four hour patrols (supplementing the Police Watchmen who were on static points throughout the night) to prevent crime and detect offenders. Their list of duties, which would fit comfortably into the basic duties of policing today, included:

  • Keeping record of all criminal information
  • Detecting crime and searching for stolen goods
  • Supervising public houses especially where criminals frequent
  • Apprehending vagabonds and disorderly persons
  • Suppressing riots and squabbles
  • Controlling carts and carriages

The policemen they envisaged would not be mere watchmen and what they had written down was the concept of “Preventative Policing,” 40 years before Sir Robert Peel established preventative policing in the Metropolitan area of London in 1829. In February, 1789, this force of truly professional police officers took to the streets.

During the following eleven years, Glasgow City fathers tried to get their Police Bill before Parliament, but without success. In the meantime, the small, pioneering, Glasgow police force, lead by the Master of Police Richard Marshall, was struggling to maintain it’s existence due to lack of the finance that the Bill would have provided. In 1790 the force failed and the City had again to rely on a City Guard of citizens.

1800

During the summer of 1800, the Glasgow Police Bill was debated through Parliament and on 30 June 1800, Britain’s first Police Act,  The Glasgow Police Act of 1800, received Royal Assent.

It was from these modest beginnings that the Glasgow Police embarked on their 175 years of service to the City.

Continue onto ‘The First 100 Years.’