Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-08-15
Our Police Court.

The report on the Ponce Court, made by the
committee of the House Of Delegates yesterday,
is what was TO have been expected from the
evidence before il; and while cOurte0D in its
tone il Is trcnchant in dealing with the hagrant
abuses proved TO be incorporated in the manage
nent OF affairs by the sUbOrdinates OF the court.
The committee. also, while generating judge
Smell and Clerk Grey from any wrong doing
censure them for not giving due supervision to
the conduct Of the subOrdinates.
1t i natural that the disclosure of this rotten
state of affairs should cause great prejudice
against the court, and the cry comes up from
various quarters for its entire abolition and the
return 20 the system of police magistracy. We
are inclined To agree, however, with an intelli-
gent correspondent elsewhere, who argues that
we should not abandon the Police Court system
found in all leading cities to be the true system;
but that we should seek to reform the abuses i'm
it. As shown by the report of the committee, IT
Il, when properly managed, more economical
and efficient than the system Of police magis-
tracy; and even when the management Is defec-
tive il is much more easily reached when the re-
spOnsibility is centralized than when it Is scat
tered amongst dozen magistrates.
The recommendations in the way of reform
made by the committee, and by Delegate Bos-
well, individually, (and whose views, from his
experience as police magistrate, should have
weight are judiciOus in the main, but we can
not agree with Mr.. Boswell in fayoring "the
return TO the police magistrate system, with the
right Of the party TO appeal to the Police Court
If aggrieyed" This would result in making the
Police Court simply court Of appeal, and
would compel US TO shoulder the double expense
OF police court and police magistracy, and
at the same time carry US back to all the adj
mitted defects of the old system. The proper
course is to appoint careful, reliable officers in
place OF the fast young men who have been
running the court machine, and at the
same time change any feature in the Do
lice system found TO be defective in its
workings. Mr.. BOswell's resolution reauir-
ing the court TO hold evening and Sunday
sessions, and reducing the Onerous fees seems To
be step in the right direction. Ii seems To us
also, that valuable hints can be got from the
practice in Police Courts elsewhere. In the
Boston Police Court, generally conceded to be
one of the best in the country, there are no
court attornies. The policemen prosecute
their own cases, except in important cases.
when the judge designates some attorney to
prosecute. The policemen make the best prose-
cut0rs, because they are familiar with the facts.
BY adopting this practice here, nine-tenths of
The abuses shown to exist in our present court
6 ystt m, and most of its enormous expense would
be abolished. Then, again, the expenses of the
court might be greatly reduced by having the
policemen act as bailiffs. Other reforms can
doubtless be suggested, but with these the court
can be reOrganized in a way to make ii a useful
and crCditable institution, having the conf
denee Of the community.