Act 63 of the 1888 Louisiana Legislative session reorganized the police force of New Orleans. This bill took the appointing authority away from the mayor and gave the power of reorganization and adminstration of the police department to the Board of Police Commissioners. The board appointed captains and sergants, and elected corporals throughout the year. Chief of Police David Hennessey, previously appointed by Mayor Shakespeare, was unanimously chosen as Superintendant of Police in March of 1889.

This was a period of extreme racial tension and turmoil in the City of New Orleans following Reconstruction, the passing of Jim Crow laws, anti-Italian sentiment, racist attitudes perpetuted by the press, and a white-dominated political system. Hennessey was killed in October of 1890, setting off a a sequence of events which resulted in the largest known mass lynching in U.S. history. Eleven of the nineteen Italian-American men arrested in connection with Hennessey's murder were lynched, after all nineteen had been aquitted. The court documents of the Hennessey trial are avaiable to view digitally.

Detective D.S. Gaster assumed position as Chief of Police following Hennessey's death, and racial tensions continued to persist. In 1900, Robert Charles, an African American, was confronted by three white police officers. An altercation ensued resulting in both Charles and one of the officers to be shot. Charles fled, and was pursued by police. Charles fatally shot two of his pursuing officers and escaped. This event triggered several riots throughout the city, resulting in the death of many black New Orleanians at the hands of white residents. A mob of white civilians and police officers stormed the house where Charles had barricaded himself, and killed him.

By 1904, the police department had 12 precincts with a little over 300 police officers. The development of the vice squad, following the closure of Storyville in 1917, saw a new focus to address the city's gambling, prostitution, and drug use that extended for many years. The department continued to grow, and by the 1950s, officers numbered around 950. More specialized departments were added, including the Juvenile Division, the Homicide Division, and the Police Bureau of Investigation. The internal NOPD publication "Our Beat" published its first issue in 1949, and in January of 1951, the police department's eight precincts were reorganized into five police districts. The NOPD currently operates under 8 police districts.

More information about the history of the New Orleans Police Department can be found in "The New Orleans Police Department" (call number 352.2 N53) and the online History of the New Orleans Police Department, written by Ruth Asher; both of these were used as source materials for this biographical/ historical note.