The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-05-08

tor Of Police be received and his action in the
matter be approved.
This, Mr.. President, Is q question Of the
very highest privilege and deserves, and am
certain will receive, the most serious censld-
GRAFTON at the hands Of this Council, and
should not go unnoticsd. We must deter
mine, by our own votes to-day, whether an
ordinance of this body Is to be obeyed or re-
main n dead letter upon our books. We must
say whether or not an administrator will be
sustained when executing the orders of this
body We must decide whether the snbor-
diuates Of this administrator must and shall
obey our orders, or permit them to use their
discretion In carrying out the same. a.. A.,
ministrator Of Police has. In accordance with
powers vested In him, fsections l. }, 10 and 30,
ordinance No. 3o4J disapproyed certain
order issued by the chief Of police, and that
officer has disobeyed and disregafded the ae-
tion OF the administrator.
| will not argue why or wherefore the chief
has seen fit to issue the order. ! cannot stop
to consider his REASONS for SO doing with me
this is simply q question MS to whether or
not any officer Of the government has a right
to violate its ordinances.
Mr. President this was no case that de-
manded immediate action on the part Of the
chief, he could, without injury to the public
service. have suspended the execution Of his
orders when he WINS informed TINT it had
been dsapproved by the Administrator Of
Police, and reported the case through you for
the consideration of this body. am sure
that we would have done Justice In the mat
ter. For these reasons | hope the motion will
prevail
| The Mayor stated that the chief had made
the changes alluded to under the ordinance
Of the Council providing for The approval OF
the Mayor and Administrator Of Police. That
, the chief had notified thu latter Of the same,
who hnd disapproved Of the changes without
consulting with him. the Mayor, on the sub
/ ject
The following letter from The chief to the
Mayor on the subject OF the changes was
read.
| OFFICE CHIEF OF POLICE,
New Orleans. May 3. 1878. !
Hon. Ed Pish,Iry. Mayor Of New Orleans:
| Sir In answer to your request OF this dat"
that / furnish you with my reasons for
! making certain transfers Of officers. MS an
nounCed to Hon. r. T.. Diamond in my com
munication Of the thirtieth ultimo. | would
respectfully state TINT 1t was done solely, In
my opinion, for generally increasing the eff
cheney Of the police fmce. My experience in
police matters, which is not Of recent date,
teaches me that the occasional transfer of
commanding officers especially Is calculated
to be of great benefit both 30 these and the
general force. In the first place, officers be-
como acquainted with the men of the
whole force and the men with the oil
| Gers Secondly, II commanding or other
officers are allowed to remain continually
In one precinct, | am satisfied that they
become over confident Of their ability to
control the disturbing element Of snid pre-
cincts, md arc, therefore, likely to be often
times at fault in such confidence. Of course
there are exceptions to this, MS TO all other
rules. Finally, | will here state TINT in all
police jurisdictions in this or other countries
officers and patrolmen are transferred from
ono locality to another to suit exigencies 81
the occasion or the judgment of the superior
officer, who Is held responsible for the efficien-
cy Of the force, and again. this has always
been the custom In this city, within my recol-
lection. | refer this statement to Yoilr honor
with tho assurance on my part TINT the
| changes recently announced were mnde for no
other reasons than as above mentioned.
Yours. respectfully,
THos N. BpYLAN,
Chief Of Police
After come further remarks by severa
Administrators the yeas and nays were
called on Mr. Edwards resolution, and II
was adopted by the following vote:
Yeas -Favnnac Denis, Diamond Edwards