In the 1880s, Fairfield police were elected constables and their biggest duties were probing crimes like theft and bringing to justice those who broke the tips off picket fences in the rural community.

"I read stories where constables were getting involved in [investigating] stealing crops," said Fairfield Police Officer Greg Gunther, the department's historian.

Like Fairfield, many neighboring communities were also rural. Industry was prospering in Bridgeport and the lower Naugatuck Valley, but the Valley had dirt roads and Bridgeport was dealing with a population boom.

Firefighters responded to calls as best they could, but mostly it was neighbors helping neighbors.

Firefighters in these communities started out as volunteers.

They used hand- or horse-drawn fire apparatus. Bucket brigades and neighbors also pitched in to fight fires.

In rural Stratford, saving the property was important, but the real goal may have been to save the property inside the burning structure, said Tom McCabe, a lieutenant with the Fire Department and its historian.

Water had to be drafted from a lake or a stream or toted by bucket brigades, he said.

There was a hand-powered pump, similar to a railroad hand car, that was exhausting to use.

But the first challenge was getting the firefighters there, he said. Firefighters were paid if they could bring a horse to speed up the process.

Once there, it was time to fight the fire "if you had enough strength to actually work,"

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McCabe said.

Milford had a single fire company for decades, which came to be called Arctic Engine Co., formed in 1838, said city Historian Richard Platt. It had about 40-50 members who each chipped in 75 cents for a firetruck. The company secretary was paid 75 cents annually, he said.

But in May 1882, its single engine broke down before a fire in Buck's Drug Store, and firefighters had to put it out by bucket brigade. So firefighters "threatened to disband unless they bought them a new fire engine," Platt said.

A bell probably summoned firefighters to fires, and it could be heard from a great distance because there were apparently fewer trees then, Platt said, because of more farming. Milford was mainly a farming community in the late 1800s, although there were some hat businesses.

Bridgeport's police and fire departments needed to be advanced with the city's thriving industrial base.

The 1880 U.S. Census and the city's Centennial Book, published in 1936 and written by Elsie Nicholas Danenberg, shed light on the state of public safety in the Park City 125 years ago.

The departments were a little more modern because the city's population had nearly doubled from 7,560 to 13,299 between 1850 and 1860. The city's industrial base also grew rapidly after the Civil War, the census reported.

Bridgeport had 20 officers who each earned $70 monthly. They had to buy their own uniforms, according to the census.

Armed with "batons, clubs and pistols," the police force typically dealt with about 900 lawbreakers a year, the vast majority of them drunks, the census reported. The department had been established in 1869, replacing 25 constable positions set in 1837, Danenberg wrote.

Special police were appointed by the police commissioners and receive $2.53 a day on duty and $1 for each additional arrest off duty. The yearly cost was $18,192.23, the census stated. The police budget for fiscal year 2007-2008 is $43,023,356.

The fire department, with 42 firefighters and 18 officers — consisted of three city-owned and one private steam-powered pumpers, two ladder trucks and five hose carriages. The equipment was pulled by 12 horses, and leather fire hose was still in use.

There were 38 signal boxes installed throughout the city and 173 hydrants. The paid Fire Department had been established in October 1872, according to the Centennial Book.

That year the city also took the step of installing a "modern" $10,000 fire alarm telegraph system, according to Danenberg.

The Fire Department's budget in 1879 was $16,629.43. For comparison sake, the fiscal year 2007-2008 budget is $21,927,696. The census reported that in the year ending March 1, 1880, the department answered 33 fire alarms. The total fire loss was $77,970, for which insurance paid $21,415.

Meanwhile, between 1860 and 1870 Milford police were busy quelling "a series of disorders" that resulted in an organized police department, Platt said.

Milford still had annually elected constables when, in 1870, a prize fight was set to take place on Charles Island. "A lot of hoodlums came" and vandalized the city before the state militia was summoned, according to the historian. There was also a shop burglary that resulted in a murder, he said.

The first paid department, founded in 1875, had two elected constables. Deputy sheriffs wouldn't be added until 1913, Platt said.

During the late 1800s, Milford's roads were dirt, Platt added. So were those in the lower Naugatuck Valley, making firefighting difficult in inclement weather. Despite its history as a center of industry, the Valley had and still has volunteer firefighters.

In 1882, Seymour organized its first fire department, Ocean Fire Co., which was changed to Citizens Engine Co. No. 2 two years later, according to the Web site www.seymourct.org.

In Ansonia, an organized fire department began in 1871 following a fire on the opera house block on Main Street, according to www.eaglehose.com.

It was called Eagle Hose Co. No. 6, from the inscription on one of the trucks. It was later expanded to Eagle Hose & Hook & Ladder Co. No. 6 with the addition of new equipment in 1879. The company's original membership consisted of 25 members, according to the site.

As elsewhere, men and horses pulled the equipment. But with no paved roads, firefighters slogged through muddy streets in spring.

"The old ladder trucks also required a great deal of energy and strength from the firefighters. The ladders that were carried on these trucks were quite heavy and long," according to www.eaglehose.com. "Even the shortest ladders required a great deal of exertion to lift the ladder from the truck and raise it against a building."