Oceanside Police Department

Images of America: California

by Matthew J. Lyons

The Oceanside Police Department has provided a century of service to a community that has grown from a small seaside resort--doubling as a bedroom community for the U.S. Marine Corps's nearby Camp Pendleton--into a city of more than 170,000 people. City marshals patrolled Oceanside from 1888 to 1906, and it is indicative of the city's formative years that the first lawman, former Texas Ranger Charlie Wilson, was also the first to be killed in the line of duty. The photographs in this remarkable collection
inventory the department's past, covering the administrations of city marshal J. Keno Wilson (Charlie Wilson's brother), Chiefs Charles Goss, Ward Ratcliff, and others. Showcased are images from the archives of the
Oceanside Police Department and the collection of Delores Davis Sloan, the daughter of former captain Harold B. Davis, Oceanside's top cop of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2006

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because I saw a video how the author handled interaction with someone he stopped. I thought it was professional enough that I wanted to check out more on the background of his area.

It was a decent read. If I was local to the area, I probably would have given it 5 stars. But even without being local, it was interesting to read about the development of this American Pacific Coast town from this perspective.