Dayton Police Department Historical Records

These records are arranged in five series:

Series I, the Bertillon Card file, contains a selection of Bertillon cards from the Dayton Police Department, and also a file relating to Dayton criminals in the Ohio State Reformatory and Penitentiary. The Bertillon System provided the fundamental identification method of criminals and each card includes the criminal’s name, mug-shot, crime, and identifying characteristics.

Series II, the Arrest Files, contains a selection of routine arrest files as maintained by the Police Department. Each file varies in content, some containing mug shots, arrest reports, newspaper clippings, and other miscellany relating to the individual’s criminal record.

Series III, the Notorious Criminal file, contains the information which was stored at the Police Department regarding notorious criminals. This file contains the “records” of Clyde Barrow, Alfred Brady, Pretty Boy Floyd, Albert Fouts, John “Peanuts” Gourmey, Bugs Moran, and Virgil Summers. As a sub-series is the police file maintained in Dayton relating to the Dayton capture and arrest of John Dillinger. The local police file contains mug shots and arrest reports, as well as informant statements and arresting officers’ reports. The official correspondence file contains letters of inquiry from police departments nationwide, requesting information about Dillinger. Also in this file are the FBI letters relating to J. Edgar Hoover.

Series IV, the Audio/Visual File, contains negatives and photographs taken of and by the Dayton Police Department along with newspaper clippings saved by the D.P.D. between 1904 and 1937. Within this series are photographs of personnel – group shots, portraits, or training/use pictures – and photographs of non-personnel related to the Dayton Police Department. Of note here are the 1876 and 1888 Dayton Police Department group photographs. Also here are three pictures from 1917 featuring the “Policewoman’s Department.” In this file are two DVDs with written descriptions; “Univis Lens Company Strike” from 1948, used for training purposes until the 1960s, and “Dayton Riots: The 1960s” which is actually three shorter films focused on 1960s protest riots and subsequent police training thereof. Lastly in this series is the 2010 Dayton Police Department Yearbook.

Series V, the Dayton Police Department Administrative Files, contains Monthly Assignment Detail Reports, beginning in 1950 and ending in 1998. These files are incomplete, with various months missing throughout and whole years absent between November 1964 and January 1980. There is a file of vacation/time-off requests and schedules from 1961- December 1964. There is also a bound “Manual of Procedure” and “Disciplinary Hearing Procedure” from 1961.