The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-02-19

The BURGLARIEs OF New YoRK-INEFFI-
CENCY OF THE PoLICE.-We published in
yesterdays paper a list of fourteen burglaries
which have been committed in the city between
the LIST and the 18th of the current month.
There is reason to believe that this number is
just one-fourth of the actual number of the
burglaries committed or that, in other words,
about fifty burglaries are committed every
fortnight, or one hundred month, or three per
day, in this city alone.
We believe that the world may be explored
In vain for a parallel to so shocking state of
things as this 1t is doubtful whether on the
highways of Italy or in the vicinity of the cities
of Mexico-places which no sensible person eyer
visits save with an ample escort, armed to the
teeth-robbery is more frequent than in this
civilized, enlightened, and extensively governed
city of New York. AS to other large cities
London, Paris and Vienna--no comparison is
possible; there, robberies do not occur as often
in week as here in day. One main reason,
of course, for the frequency of robbery aud
burglary in New York is the immense influx of
foreign criminals who come here as soon as the
police have made their European haunts too hot
for them. Hundreds of thieves, burglars and
other disorderly characters are landed on our
quays every year the last report of the Super
intendent Of Police shows, for instance, that
out of twelve thousand arrests made here within
a given period, ten thousand were foreigners.
The apparent contradiction between the state
ment that crime is more abundant here than
abroad, and the assertion that the bulk of the
crime here is the work Of foreigners, is explained
by reference to the state of the police There
are probably more men ready to commit bur-
glary in the city of London than there are here
Bur glaries are fewer, however, because the
police are more efficient in preventing them,
and likewise because the comparative certainty
Of detection and punishment deters many would
be burglars from committing felonious acts
Here, on the contrary, the punishment, till re-
Gently, has actually induced many to commit
crime, who under other circumstances would
have remained virtueus. Now the efficiency of
the police in the one place its inefiiciency in
the other, account satisfactorily for the contrast
1t appears that arrests Of suspected parties
do not follow burglaries in this city in more
than one out Of ten cases. In nine out of ten
or more, the police are informed of the crime
by the parties injured and make a note of the
fact; but the note is merely ornamental and
never serves any purpose whatever. 1t hap.
pens, once in hundred cases, that a part of
the stolen property is recovered; in eight or
nine cases Of the hundred some one is ar
rested, usually by the inmates of the house
robbed, and after much trouble, expense and
delay, is usually set at liberty again. In all
the other cases the drama ends with the exit of
the burglar from the house, and the victim
never hears any more either Of him or of his
property. There even seems to be an effort on
the part of the police to suppress information
relative to burglaries-for what purpose one is
at loss to imagine, unless II be to conceal the
ineficiency Of the force.
These things would amply warrant some ex-
PLANTATION from Mr.. Tallmadge. How comes it
that SO many burglaries take place, that so few
burglars are ever caught and SO little property
recovered? Where is the flaw? As the case
lies at present, Mr.. Tallmadge's efficiency would
seem to be shown by these facts to be far below
his predecessors.