WWW.GBPOLICE.ORG - SERVING AND PROTECTING TITLETOWN SINCE AUGUST 27, 1857

Our Proud History
The Green Bay Police Department has a long and colorful history, almost as old as the state itself. The Green Bay Police Department was born in 1857, nine years after Wisconsin was granted statehood and only three years after Green Bay was incorporated into a city.

The articles of incorporation that forged the city of Green Bay out of the borough of Green Bay, gave authorization to the city council to establish a police force. Prior to taking such action, law enforcement duties were handled by a county sheriff; city, village, and town marshals; and night watchmen.

The articles of incorporation established the mayor as chief executive and head of the police. The mayor is charged with the duty to prevent and suppress riots or other public disturbances, and may appoint, with the approval of the council, as many constables as deemed proper. Section 18 of the articles empowered the city council to regulate the police of the city, appoint watchmen, organize fire companies, prescribe and regulate their duties, and punish delinquencies.

The title marshal was used until the city council took action to create a police department. A special meeting was called for on August 27, 1857 for the purpose of organizing a special police force. A prominent citizen of the day, Henry S. Baird, appeared before the council on behalf of numerous citizens, and reported the organization of a volunteer special police corps, to which he requested the sanction of the city council.

Alderman Suydam proposed a resolution that said that the volunteer corps be recognized and appointed by the mayor and council as regular police corps and when on duty as patrol or night watch, shall have full authority to exercise all powers necessary to preserve peace and quiet within the city limits.

He further resolved that the officers named as captains of the companies forming the volunteer police are hereby recognized as such, and that Henry S. Baird be recognized and appointed chief or superintendent. The council adopted this resolution, and the Green Bay Police Department was born with Henry S. Baird as its first chief.

One of the earlier chiefs of the Green Bay Police Department was German immigrant Gerhard Bong. The people of that era cherished self sufficiency and did not look favorably upon those unwilling to put forth the effort. The newspaper reported on March 15, 1882, that tramps were showing up in town and that when caught, Chief Bong gives them one hour to leave town. Those who failed to comply were arrested as vagrants. He personally gave one "seedy" looking fellow "the run" that morning. Bong asked the citizens who are visited by tramps asking for food, to take them in and hold them until he or some other officer could be sent for.

In 1892, the Green Bay Police Department turned 35 years old and consisted of Chief John L. Tennis and seven men. They still did not have a police station, so the officers would meet in the hook and ladder room of the engine house on Washington Street. On April 12, 1892, the city council considered finding new quarters for the police. Other council action that day set the chief’s salary at $1.75 per day and the patrolmen’s at $1.50 per day.

The cities of Fort Howard and Green Bay consolidated in 1895 and kept the name of Green Bay. Fort Howard had Marshal William Driscoll and three men at that time, and Green Bay had Chief Michael H. Nolan and eight men. They consolidated the departments into one, consisting of 11 men. John L. Tennis returned as chief of the newly consolidated department. With the cities consolidated, the population of Green Bay was then 18,290.

The man to have the longest tenure as chief of police was Thomas E. Hawley. Hawley, the son of Irish immigrants, was born in Green Bay in 1866. At the age of 27, Hawley became a police officer for the city of Fort Howard, under the command of Marshal Theo Leicht. After the consolidation of the two cities, Hawley continued on with the newly combined department. Hawley was with the new department a little over two years when he was promoted to captain. One year later, on April 11, 1899, he was appointed as chief of police. He was 33 years old and had been in law enforcement six years with Green Bay. When he took command, Hawley had 10 men on his department. At the end of his tenure as chief, the department had grown to 48 men, a matron, and one records clerk. His successful career spanned 53 years, with 46 of those being in command as chief. His tenure as chief took him from the turn of the century and through the Great Depression, World War I and World War II. He retired on May 31, 1946, at the age of 80.

One of the accomplishments of Hawley’s career was prompted because of a problem with the city lockup. The lockup was usually filled with tramps and drunks who descended on the city in the fall of the year and put up a terrific fight to get a sentence which would run through the winter. Finding the "winter termers" something of a problem, Chief Hawley suggested that the city or county build a workhouse. Consequently, around 1903, a workhouse was constructed, the first of its kind in the state. When hoboes found they would have to work, they were not so eager to make Green Bay a stopping off place when the winter winds began to blow.

Through 1900, the offices of city government were located in commercial buildings on S. Washington Street, which was the heart of Green Bay’s commerce and business. In 1900 an actual city hall was built at 122 N. Jefferson Street, on the southeast corner of Cherry and Jefferson. The police department left its make-shift headquarters in Firehouse 1, and took up residency in the new City Hall.

One of the more colorful careers in the department’s history belongs to Detective Lt. August "Gus" Delloye. Delloye, the son of Belgian immigrants, was born and raised in Green Bay. He began his career at the Green Bay Police Department on May 1, 1916. He retired May 1, 1956, at the age of 70, with 40 years in law enforcement. Delloye’s career saw him twice wounded in the line of duty. Both cases remain unsolved.

His first brush with death occurred on January 9, 1928, at approximately 9:00 PM during the investigation of the Counard extortion case. A local business man had received an extortion note demanding that he deliver $1,000 to a drop off point or he would be shot. The instructions described a drop off point on Highway 57 near Bay Settlement, by Shorty Van Pee’s soft drink parlor.

Delloye and Detective Lieutenant Martin Burke rode with Counard to the drop off point. Unbeknownst to the detectives, a car containing two officers, Oran Wall and William Walters from the traffic division, followed them. Wall and Walters planned to drive past the drop off point, hide the car, walk back to the drop off point, and ambush the extortionists. They did not know that the detectives were in the Counard car.

Delloye made the drop and drove off. He walked back along the fence line to catch the extortionists. Wall was already waiting. As Delloye neared the drop off point, Wall surprised him, ordering him to throw up his hands. Thinking it was the extortionist, Delloye fired his shotgun at Wall and fled. Wall pursued. Numerous shots were exchanged as they ran. Delloye was hit twice with blasts from Wall’s shotgun. Wall and Walters finally realized who they had when Delloye collapsed at a farmhouse from the loss of blood. Wall reported that there had been a bit of jealousy between the two divisions. Neither side wanted to see the other make the arrest in this case.

Delloye’s second brush with death came on Monday, July 20, 1931, at approximately 11:00 am, when the call came in for a bank robbery in progress at the South Side State Bank, 710 S. Broadway Street. Officers at the station at the time the call came in would respond. That morning it was police mechanic Elmer DeNamur, detectives Martin Burke and Gus Delloye, and Chief Thomas Hawley. They responded in one car, with DeNamur driving. The police car pulled in at an angle just past the robbers’ car and immediately came under fire. The robbers were prohibition era Chicago style gangsters with shotguns and submachine guns. Hawley, Delloye, and Burke were wounded in the first burst of fire. Bandits ran from the bank and engaged the officers with machine guns and sprayed the street with bullets. Delloye was the first to get out of the car and was immediately wounded. The other officers got out, ran for cover, and returned fire. One of the bandits was wounded as they escaped.

Officers regrouped and prepared for a manhunt. Delloye and Hawley were rushed to the hospital. Delloye had two bullet wounds to his left arm and his left eye was destroyed by flying glass. He was admitted to the hospital in critical condition and hovered near death for sixty hours. Hawley was hospitalized with a wound in his side from flying glass entering his chest wall. Burke was cut about the face by flying glass and had a minor bullet wound to the hand. DeNamur was not injured.

Neither this case nor the Counard Extortion case were ever solved. This is just a portion of the story of the Green Bay Police Department. A lot has happened with this department since these early days. It has grown tremendously in size and scope, from the six-man department in the 1870’s , made up of strictly beat officers, with no police station, to the 190 men and women department today, with officers specializing in many highly skilled areas, from neighborhood beats to computerized communications, headquartered in a substantial facility.

	J.A. Killian 1870-75 No Photo	Daniel Dempsey 1880-81 No Photo
	Henrey Loewert 1886-87 No Photo


	James Lewis 1995-2003	Craig Van Schyndle 2003 to Present