News Photo by Steve Schulwitz From left, Alpena Police Chief Eric Hamp, Alpena Police Administrative Assistant Tracy Marquardt, and Alpena County County Administrator Jesse Osmer on Sept. 19 look through a book of Alpena police records from the late 1800s.

ALPENA — Historic police logs discovered by Alpena County County Administrator Jesse Osmer show that, back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Alpena police combatted very different crimes than the crimes they battle today.

Police made arrests and wrote tickets for offenses such as prostitution, gambling, and begging, which are rarely enforced today, the historic police logs show.

The number of crimes involving alcohol back in the old days mirrors what police now, however.

Osmer said he has slowly explored the basements and other areas in county facilities as he tries to come up with a plan to consolidate file rooms scattered around the county buildings into one location.

In the basement of the 911 building, Osmer found more than a handful of large, hardcover books containing hundreds of past criminal reports completed by the Alpena Police Department.

Osmer also found records pertaining to the county probate court from the 1800s and books containing records of people institutionalized for mental illness. Osmer said he sent those books to the state for its archives.

Earlier this month, the county gave the old police logs to Alpena Police Chief Eric Hamp.

Osmer said he took a little time to comb through the books and quickly noticed police used to enforce many types of crimes that would raise eyebrows today.

“There were crimes like running a house of ill repute or whorehouse, running a gambling hall, begging, and public use of foul and vulgar language,” he said. “I found it interesting that the penalty for using foul language in public was actually higher than for prostitution.”

Osmer said he was also surprised by the number of crimes involving bicycles. He said people were stopped by police for riding their bikes on the sidewalks or speeding.

Hamp said he intends to browse through the historic records and then decide if they are worth the city keeping, or whether they should be donated to an organization that can share them with the public.

“We’ll see if there is anything that we need for our record-keeping or turn them over to someplace like the museum or library, so people can check them out,” Hamp said.

Hamp said that, at first glance, the records detail some crimes that are likely not against the law in 2024.

“I’m sure there have been quite a few changes,” he said. “I mean, these go back more than 100 years, and times have changed. Society has changed, and what may not have been accepted a century ago may be acceptable today. It will be a neat experience to go through and see the way things were handled 100 years ago.”

While reviewing the court documents, Osmer said the records detail one case in which neither the court nor police could identify a person.

“Instead of having a name, they simply referred to him as ‘bum,'” Osmer said. “That’s crazy.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.