About 
The Village of Oxford was incorporated in 1876 and at that time appointed its first Village Marshal, who was the only “law” in town for many years. In the early 1900’s after a rash of suspicious fires and break-in’s in the Downtown area, merchants approached the Village Council to hire a “Night Watchman” who was empowered as a Deputy Village Marshal.
The person worked throughout the night, providing foot patrol in the Downtown area and otherwise assisting the Village Marshal, who also served as the Village Street Superintendent during the day.
In 1925 Jay Gould, the Village Night Watchman, was shot and killed while on foot patrol at the corner of Washington and Burdick Streets. The person(s) responsible were never located and there were no eyewitnesses. Newspapers of the era speculated that Officer Gould was shot by a “group of thugs” or “gangsters” because he interrupted criminal activity.
In 1941 The Village of Oxford’s population had grown sufficiently to convince the Village Council that the town needed additional law enforcement coverage. It was at this time that the Oxford Police Department was officially founded. Patrol Officers were hired to provide coverage around the clock and the town's first patrol car was purchased. The first full-time Officer hired was Albert Roberts, who later became the Chief of Police in 1948 and remained the Chief of the Department until 1973 when he retired after serving 32 years.
In the early years the Police Department relied on private telephone answering services to receive requests for service.
