"ONE DISTRICT WHICH SHALL BE KNOWN AND CALLED 'THE METROPOLITAN POLICE DISTRICT OF NEW ORLEANS, STATE OF LOUISIANA'"

(BLACK HISTORY). An Act to Establish a Metropolitan Police District and to Provide for the Government Thereof. Published by Order of the Board of Police Commissioners. New Orleans: A. L. Lee, State Printer, 1868. Slim octavo, original self wrappers; pp. 21. $2400.

Scarce first separate printing of the founding document of the Metropolitan Police, an integrated force which operated in New Orleans from 1868 to 1877.

In the aftermath of the New Orleans Race Riot of 1866, many voices called for a racially integrated police force. Act 74 of the Reconstruction-era Louisiana Legislature decreed that "the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard are hereby constituted and territorily united for the purposes of police government and police discipline therein, into one district which shall be known and called the 'Metropolitan Police District of New Orleans, State of Louisiana.'" The act was passed in 1868 and covered topics including organizational structure, rules and regulations of the force, powers of supervision and inspection, equipment, salaries, etc. A number of Louisianans considered the act government overreach, however, and refused to recognize the reorganized force's authority; after the Compromise of 1877 and the effective end of Reconstruction, the Metropolitan Police were dismantled. Foote, Official Publications of Louisiana 1803-1934, 27.

Minor toning, one leaf with short closed tear from foot, original wrappers with spine fold expertly repaired, corners chipped. An extremely good copy.