The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-14
THE DETECTTYE SYSTEM

Il
The fact that thus far no apparent clue has
been obtained to the identity of the assassins
of Detective Brooks is a sufficient COM
mentary on our whole detective system.
Here was a man shot down in open daylight,
and his assassins are seen to Jump into O car
riage and drive off, and yet the officers of the
law practically confess that they are unable to
accomplish their capture 1t is stated that
the five thousand dollars reward offered has
been outbid by the whisky ring,
and now Supervisor Tuition recon-
mends that the sum be increased to
twenty thousand sum that the friends of
the assassins are as able to outbid as they are
to go over the smaller amount. The whole
question appears to be one of dollars and
cents. If the Government can pay the
biggest price it will probably catch the
criminals without further difficulty otherwise
they will never be identified except by some
accident over which the detective officers
have no control, Commissioner Delano is
already tormented with the inquiry as to how
the money is to be divided if the capture
is made, and it is intimated that
if he expects to secure the assassins he will
have to change the position about the distri-
button of rewards which he assumed in the
case of Wilkes Booth, when he advocated the
distribution of the money among all the
participants in the arrest instead of giving the
whole amount to Detective Baker and his
immediate assistants. Before any attempt
has been made to ferret out the men who
shot Mr.. Brooks, the detectives are bargaining
for their reward, and it is all but openly
knowledged that the party that pays the
highest will win the prize.
The fact is the whole detective system is
rotten to the core, and the only way in which
it can be reformed will be to abolish the pre-
sent manner of doing business and reorga-
nize upon an entirely different basis. The
practice of offering rewards has caused COM
plete decentralization, and we believe that the
ends of Justice would be served much better
if no such extra inducements were held out
for officers 70 do their duty. With human
nature as it is, it would probably be impos-
sible to organize a perfectly immaculate de-
tective force, every member of which
at all times and under all circum-
stances could be relied upon as incorrup-
tible; but it is very certain that
a very decided improvement on the present
style of doing business could be effected if
the organization of an efficient detective
system were to be undertaken by competent
persons. In the case of the assassin of Officer
Brooks, the probabilities are that the whisky
ring will outbid any sum that the Government
is likely to offer, and we do not believe that
twenty thousand dollars will be more likely
to ensure the arrest than five thousand.
1t is clearly the duty of the Government to
make the most strenuous exertions to secure
the arrest and punishment of the
men who shot Mr.. Brooks. This
is, to great extent, a test
case, trial of strength between the Govern
ment and the scoundrels who have for years
been defrauding the revenue, and who now
show that they will not hesitate at murder il
they can accomplish their ends in no other
way. If the men whose business it is to
ferret out these criminals fail to, arrest them,
they confess their own worthlessness as de-
tectives, and suggest more than a suspicion
of completely with the criminals. If the
arrests are not promptly made, with or with
out the reward, the Government owes it to
itself and to the people to organize such de-
tective force as will be entitled to some little
regard for efficiency and common honesty.