Louisville Police Department
The Louisville Police Department was, during its existence, usually called the Louisville Division of Police, as it fell under the Department of Public Safety. Although Louisville had law enforcement before, the department was formally created in 1868, when established by a new law enacted by the Kentucky General Assembly.
Notable members of the Louisville Police Department, through the years.
Click on images for more information
Professor George Tilden Ragsdale, Founder of the Louisville Police Training School.
Bertha Par Whedbee, Louisville's first African-American female police officer
John Irvin Messmer, Forensic Scientist
Line of Duty Deaths
The history of a police department is written in the blood of the sacrifices made by its officers. These are their stories.
George Coulter EOW 8/17/1858
Walter Mazzie EOW 1/5/1939
Theodore Bossung EOW 11/25/1907
John Holzknecht EOW 1/13/1937
Benjamin S. Rust EOW 1/15/1862
John Hawthorne EOW 1/22/1947
Von Raymond McClellan EOW 1/25/1940
Ronnie Earl Seelye EOW 1/27/1981
Lawrence Claycomb EOW 1/28/1937
Basil Duke Offutt EOW 1/31/1931
Harold Boyer EOW 1/31/1931
William Thomas Kinney, EOW 2/10/1942 James Leslie Hedgepeth, EOW 2/12/1942
John Fow EOW 2/18/1917
Photos tell the story!
Louisville's First Police Car (1909 Cadillac)
1902 Photo Bomb! Taken at Logan and Breckinridge Streets
The New Louisville Fleet of 1909 Cadillacs
Louisville Police on Parade 1900
Crimebusters
We aren't sure what was going on at the Maury-Cole Company to draw both Louisville Police and Fire to the scene! The Maury-Cole Company, located at 801 Main Street, dealt in coffee roasters. Louisville citizens will recognize this as the Fort Nelson Building, now the home of Michter's Distillery. (Photo from UL digital archives.)
