Delhi Township hired its first police officer, Alvin Hartig, in 1951. Hartig had been a justice of the peace for Delhi Township and a sheriff’s deputy for Ingham County for several decades. When he became Delhi Township’s first road patrol officer, he was tasked with patrolling the community during the periods of heaviest traffic and reducing accidents in the downtown area. The Township Board purchased a police car in 1951 for Officer Hartig. He was the only officer for just over two years when he resigned and was replaced by Andrew Harton at the end of 1953.
By 1954, Delhi Township had two officers, Harton and Ward Curry. They were placed under the supervision of the Ingham County Sheriff, and the department’s new Oldsmobile patrol car was painted to match the county’s patrol vehicles. This arrangement was brief, as an independent Delhi Township Police Department was established at the end of 1954. Over the subsequent decades, Delhi Township was policed by an independent department, also under the supervision of the Michigan State Police and Ingham County Sheriff during different periods. Since 1990, Delhi Township has retained a contract with the Ingham County Sheriff’s Department for a Delhi Division responsible for the policing of the community.