A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CANAL ZONE POLICE

 President Theodore Roosevelt personally selected Captain George R. Shanton to head the Zone Police Force, which was organized
by the Isthmian Canal Commission on June 2, 1904. Shanton, a former Army officer who commanded a troop of "Rough Riders" during the
Spanish-American War, conceived the idea of an American-operated Isthmian police force.
 The prosperity of the rapidly-growing Canal Zone community attracted a large criminal element to the Isthmus during the early
construction years. However, the Zone Police were able to meet the challenge of maintaining necessary law and order. Through its efforts, the
Zone Police were able to create and sustain a favorable living environment for the work force, which was to help guide the Canal project to
completion.
 The history of the Canal Zone Police, as the organization came to be known prior to World War II, has paralleled the changing nature of
the Panama Canal's development. Prior to improvements in the means of transportation and communication on the Isthmus, the Police Division
was divided into as many as five police districts. It also operated scores of substations in the construction-era townsites that followed the route
of the Canal. During the periods when the police and fire responsibilities of the Canal Zone Government were combined, the Chief of the Police
Division became the head of both departments.
 Between 1904 and 1917, five military officers were selected by the President of the United States to head the Zone Police. Those who
honorably served were George Shanton (1904-1909), Grosvener A. Porter (1909-1910), James P. Fyffe (1910-1912), Charles W. Barber
(1912-1915) and Harry D. Mitchell (1915-1917). The civilians who served as Chiefs of Police thereafter were: Guy Johannes (1917-1943), A.
0. Meyer (1943-1950), George Herman (1950-1955), R. W. Griffith (1955-1957), Benjamin Darden (1957-1961), Eugene S. Shipley (1961-
1968), Gaddis Wall (1968-1972), Charles S. Smith (1972-1973) and William F. Kessler (1973-1982).
 In later years, the organizational structure of the Division consisted of two main police districts: one located in Cristobal on the Atlantic
side of the Isthmus and the other in Balboa on the Pacific side. A small number of police officers and correctional personnel were assigned to
administer the Canal Zone Penitentiary, located on the outskirts of Gamboa.
 Each Police District maintained a patrol force, a traffic section, a detective section, and a jungle and interior water patrol force. All police
activities were coordinated through Police Headquarters, which consisted of the Division Chief and his staff.
 Unlike police agencies within the United States, the duties of the Chief of the Police Division encompassed other than purely law
enforcement responsibilities. The Chief served as the administrative head of the Penitentiary at Gamboa; the only federal penitentiary located
outside the continental United States, and held the position of Coroner for the Canal Zone.
 The Canal Zone Police were responsible for the investigation of a wide range of incidents and crimes, which occurred on board vessels
transiting the Canal. This included all crimes on the "high seas" aboard U. S. flag vessels when the first port of call was the Canal Zone. On
many occasions, the investigation, taking of statements and arrest had to be accomplished within the eight-hour period needed for a ship to
complete its transit of the waterway. The Canal Zone Police came into more contact with a wider variety of law enforcement matters involving
people of different nationalities on a daily basis than any other police agency in the world.
 On October 1, 1979, the Canal Zone Police Division was again reorganized and the name changed to the Canal Commission Police.
This was in response to the new relationship created between the United States and the Republic of Panama by the Panama Canal Treaties of
1977. The police functions in the Canal Area were carried out by citizens of the United States and Panama employed by the Federal
Government in cooperation with Panama's National Guard and National Department of Investigation until the Canal Commission Police ceased
to exist on March 31, 1982.