For more than 100 years, from 1813 to 1916, law enforcement in the Township of Hamilton was performed by annually appointed constables, citizen-peacekeepers who protected the township part-time while working fulltime in business, trade, and farming.

The Township Police Department was founded in 1916, and was composed of one Chief of Police and a number of citizens appointed as Special Police Officers to be called into service by the Chief of Police in an emergency.  The township’s first Chief of Police was Maurice Taylor, appointed in 1916, and serving for 26 years until his retirement on July 16, 1942.

By the 1960’s the growth of population and business in the Township prompted the growth of the size of the police department.  The department grew from one police chief and several on-call part-time special officers to 13 fulltime police officers by 1976.  The department continued to grow in size: 19 officers in 1984, 43 officers by 1995, 71 officers in 2006, and now stands at 48 officers in 2011.

During its history, the Hamilton Township Police Department has had ten chief executives:

Today, the Township of Hamilton Police Department is a professional organization that is focused on the importance of ethical values, the necessity of continuing improvement, the pursuit of a broad formal education, commitment to service, responsiveness, and ongoing self-evaluation as an organization.