The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-05-05
A National Detective Convention.

1
We have received the following commu-
nication from the chief of police of St.
| Louis
| deem it part of the duty of my office re-
| specially to suggest TO you a subject matter
! that belongs to one branch of the public SER
| vice entrusted to your charge, viz the detec.
| tive department, which comprehends in its
action not only the safety of our own commu.
nifty in affairs of the highest value, but is con-
stantly invoked for cooperation and aid by the
police force of every large city of the country.
The organization OF a detective department
of police everywhere is intended for the pro-
lection of the larger interests of the commu-
nifty in life and property. 1t has to deal with
combinations in crime, composed of talent and
OF numbers, and its efficiency in prevention
chiefly; hence its operations must be secret,
| and must be conducted by men of rare ability
and tact.
A detective force is as well general in its
operations as local, and to render it fully
effective, information must be constantly fur
nished from distant points; the bank burglar.
the express robbers, the counterfeiter, and the
operator on large scale take flight at once,
and make distance conduce to safety; their
movements are measured by calculation, and
they seek and procure protection from their
associates and accomplices, especially in dis
tant cities. The detective force in every city
as now, but a chain of rapid communication
and action by combined rule and cypher the
organization should be a network of swift in.
telligence and prompt performance, which
would arrest crime whether stationary or in
fight this valuable result can never be
reached whilst operations are conducted on
Independent and often on opposite systems in
each locality no agency of the public service
requires combination and union more accurate
and Ineligible than the detective branch of
the police power to prevent crime, as we'll as
to arrest it after preparation.
The knowledge of such an organization
would of itself, effect much to deter the COM
mission of felonies. Men enter on the career of
crime, as on business, with the hope of sue
cess and escape, and perhaps of reformation
afterwards. The most hardened would pause
II he thought capture certain, and combined
detective force with the talent it can command
in this country will make it certain. There is
one mode by which this end can be reached. 1t
has frequently occurred to me, and being now
in position where it becomes duty to tender
the results Of my experience and considera-
ton, respectfully present it.
Let convention of the heads of the police
force, with their chiefs of every city in the
Union, be held on the invitation of your hon~
orable Board in the city of St. Louis at an ap-
pointed time in the year 1871, for the purpose
of taking council together to inaugurate and
adopt code of rules and regulations, whereby
the whole detective force of the country can
act in union, for the prevention and detection
of crime, upon such conditions as the expert
ence and judgments of the convention shall
determine.
Your honorable Board can see at once how
easy this conference can be held, and the ben.
efts that will result to the safety of person and
property therefrom throughout the United
States. Respectfully,
JAMES MCDoNOUGH Chief