The Kalamazoo Police Department traces its beginnings to 1882. These ledgers record a variety of calls the department received many of which dealt with animals, both alive and deceased, theft, assaults, lost items, accidents, missing children, rubbish, dangerous sidewalks and people who were inebriated.The entries record the reports but do not cover what the police did to deal with what was being reported.

The collection is composed of four journals compiled by Detective Orville J. Sternburgh of the Kalamazoo Police Department from 1922 until 1929.