New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-02-08
THE PROPOSED POLICE REG ULATION'


| THE PROPOSED POLICE REG ULAT10NS
1t was the first care of Mr. Sweeny in FRAN
| ing his Charter to reserve all patronage, ana
therefore all real power to the Ring. He was
next sOlicitous to thwart the natural order OF
things by keeping his followers out of Jail. and
this was task of such extreme difficulty that
he was forced in his Seventh Article, relating
to the Police Department, to descend INTO de-
tails as unusual as they are unwarranted III an
organic law. But Mr.. Sweeny evidently cared
nothing for appearances or precedents so long
as no ennoaadad in his object. As 8 primal
necessity he demOlisheS the MrtIvpv,ss- r-i:oa
which has been stumbling block to Tam
| many for so many years. and then proceeds to
erect upon its ruins Municipal Police that
cannot possibly be anything else than the thrail
of the Ring The Board of Police is declared
to be Che head of the Department, but is care
fully shorn of all executive power. which is
lodged in the Ring, acting through its servants,
| the Mayor and the Chief of Police. The bill
surrounds this last official with a staff of thirty
detectives and declares that he shall. sub
ordinate to the Mayor, have command over
"the whole police force of the city, and es-
"pecially with respect to the designating,
transferring, detailing, controlling, and ma
neuyerng said police force" These auto
cratic attributes are nowhere and in nowise
| limited, except that the Chief is to be
slave of the Mayor, who is the vassal of the
| Ring 1t is next carefully provided that any
desired number of its Janizares can be quar-
tered upon the city by the declaration of sec
ton 40. that the Mayor, by and with the con-
| sent of the Board of Police, shall determine
| the number of captains, sergeants patrOmen,
and doOrmen, of which the police force shall
be composed. The wise restrictions of the
present law are thus abrogated, and without
| any Intervention of the Legislature, or even of
the Common Council, the six creatures of the
Ring, officially known as the Mayor and the
Board of Police, can overpOwer this city with
a vast subsidized army of policemen.
| Having vested this terrible power in the
hands of the Ring,,the Charter proceeds in
various ways to make it effective. It is pro-
vided that patrolmen may be removed from
Office for cause by any one of the Commission
ers, and all above that rank at the pleasure of
| the Board Of Police, thus securing in the ranks
none but the tools Of Tammany. Next,
having in view the predictions of the
|
they shall not come to even TEN.
pOrary grief in consequence thereof, it
| is declared in Section 20 that lif "any
"person arrested for msdemeanor shall be q
householder, or have a known place of per-
"manent residence or business within the City
"of York, in lieu of being detained over
might at statiOn-h6 he shall be allowed
ITO depart upon signing q recOgnizance in the
"sum Of 800, conditional that he will appear
the next morning before the proper magis-
"trate, at an hour to be designated IN such
| "recOgnizance by the captain or sergeant Such
"recOgnizance shall be completed by the sigma
"ture of such person. With its henchmen
| crowding the staton-hO to declare that
every rufiian is householder or has known
| place of residence, all check upon drunkenness.
street turbulence, and petty crime is absolutely
and Intentionally removed. But lest some mis-
take might be made, and some of the lawless-
ness essential to Tammany temporarily get
into jail, 1t is provided, among the general
powers Oflthe Common Council, in Section %.
that it shall make ordinances: geo. In relation
"tO intoxication and quarreling in the
"streets. 25 In relation 10 disOrdcrly and
gaming houses, their inmates and fire.
"quenters, and the suppression of vice
and immortality. a. In relation to peace and
good order" Having policemen to take straw
bail for such OF his allies as may be inadver-
tently caught by the law. and a Common
Council specially empowered to guard against
the calamity, Mr. Sweeny has evidently not
meddled in vain with these details and if the
streets of NowYork under this charter do not