This archive series contains journals from the Christiansted Police office, 1798-1846. The police journal was a daily report in which the officers recorded everything that took place at the police office including all reports filed. For instance, if enslaved workers filed a complaint against their overseer for maltreatment, if there was a brawl in a rum shop or if dead dogs had been found in town. Consequently, the police journals offers information on daily life, especially in the towns, and on what people in general regarded as a matter for the authorities.

The transcription of the police journals takes a different form than that of for instance the tax records. In this case, we ask for a full text transcription, meaning that the entire text must be transcribed, not just names, places and dates.

You find the specific transcription guide for this series here: https://www.sa.dk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/police-court-proceedings-and-police-journals.pdf

The image is a detail of a painting showing the harbor of Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas, c. 1881. At the center is Fort Christian, which from the 1870s housed the police office. Original held at the Maritime Museum of Denmark, Elsinore, image no. 000035621.

Transcriptions

English translations