The Coal and Iron Police (C&I) was a private police force in the US state of Pennsylvania that existed between 1865 and 1931. It was established by the Pennsylvania General Assembly but employed and paid for by the various coal companies. The Coal and Iron Police worked alongside the Pennsylvania National Guard, and later the Pennsylvania State Police, beginning in 1877. The remaining Coal and Iron Police commissions were allowed to expire in 1931, ostensibly ending the state-sanctioned organization of a private police force. Industrial policing continued in limited form until the later 1930s, when the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and other federal legislation made armed industrial forces illegal.[1]
- ^ Sadler, Spencer J. (November 2, 2009). Pennsylvania's Coal and Iron Police. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-6470-8.