Morning journal and courier., 1880-01-06
IOCAL NEWS.
rror other Local News see seOOndGpsee,l
ohief Webster,s report.


 The Work or the Police Force for the Past Year-TOtal Arrests-Value Of stolen Property Recovered.
 From Chief of Police Webster's annual re- port, submitted to the Police Commissioners, we glean facts which will be read with interest by our citizens. The term of service of the present Chief has been only nine months of the past fiscal year. Following is the report ::
 NEW HAVEN, Dec i, 1879. To the Honorable Board of Police Commis-
 sioners:
 GENrnEMEN-I respectfully submit to your honorable body my first report, covering the time from March 4, 1879, the date of my ap- pointment as Chief of the Police Department, until the present date, together with the ros- ter and the record transactions for the year ending December l, 1879. I respectfully re- fer your honorable body to the accompanying transcript from the books of record in this office.
 The force consists of chief, captain, lieu tenant, two detectives, two roundsmen and seventy seven patrolmen, the office of ser Reant having been discontinued. While there have been no radical changes in the general principles of rules governing the conduct of the department, few things have been ac- complained which 1t appears proper to men ton. Complaints having been made by citizens and taxpayers of unfrequent visitations of the police to sections re- mote from the center of the city, thorough change has been effected in the matter of patrolmen's beats. A large map, showing the streets, highways, avenues and small thoroughfares, was prepared by the city engineers and new territorial divisions were marked thereon in colored lines. At the same time-namely, on the 31st of October-there was a revision of the orders defining the beats patrolled regard being had to distances and kfr1na rant1irad fOr oaNh furY 0f dutv From the time this improvement has been carried out the complaints mentioned have been greatly diminished, while it is believed the men are better satisfied as to an impartial dis tribution of work. The number of miles pa trolIed by each officer are more equalized than before the change, and the duties of the roundsmen have been rendered less perplex- ing. Policemen are detailed for special ser vice on days of public celebrations or when ever certain streets are likely to be unusually thronged; and there are regular patrolmen detailed at the railroad depots and steamboat landings the officers making it point of their duty to direct strangers and assist those who ap pear to need help, as will be seen by reference to statistics attached to this report. New Haven has been comparatively free from the indus tries of what are called the Dangerous classes" and as compared with former years there have been few noticeable breaches of public peace. It is hardly to be expected that 8 city of sixty thousand inhabitants, and hay ing railroad communication with other cities many times daily, would be free from crime. But it is believed that the police force of New Haven have as good reputation in the mat ter of arrestiDg criminals and preventing vio- lations of law any in other cities of it's size.
 On the 1st of November @ change was made in the method of lighting and extinguishing lamps, which has been found to be of great service to the department in enabling them to better see whatever should come under their .I aI,
 For eleven months of last year, ending December 1st, the number of persons fur nished with lodgings at the police station was 1,595. The noteworthy decrease in the num- Der of applications for lodgings since the date mentioned is due to the act of the Legis lature, known as the Tramp Law act, which went into operation April 2Sth. But before that time large numbers of the idle and wan dering class had become informed of the pro- visions, and tramping as profession had al- ready begun to abate. The revival of busi- ness served to reduce the annoyance suffered by industrious citizens from persistent de- mands for aims. At the same time system atic effort was made by an association of New Haven philanthropists to furnish work for persons willing to labor, and their enterprise was seconded by the late Judge Peck of the City Court. The almost total disappearance of tramps from the city indicated by the books of the office, and set forth in other parts of this report, will be matter for con graduation. I have great pleasure in report ing that have been ably and cheerfully aided in my duties by Captain Hyde, Lieutenant Sheridan, Detectives Brewer and Reilly, Clerk Mcbride and the men of the command. I have no doubt there prevails among all the officers of this department 8 determination to discharge their respective duties with fdeli- ty and to the best interests of the city.
 Charges have been preferred against nine members of tho force, three of whom were dismissed from the department, one was fined twenty five days pay, two were fined five days pay each, one was fined one days pay and two were found not guilty by your honorable board. The department has been called to mourn the loss of one of its members by death during the year, Patrolman Frederick Fl. Lipsley, who died December 9th, 1878.
 Iembrace this opportunity to thank your honorable body for the considerate manner in which have been uniformly treated. Please find herewith full record of business done for the year as copied from the books of this department. Respectfully yours,
 CHARLES WEBsTEa,
 Chief of Police.
 From the Chiefs tabular statement accom- pany1ng his report, we find the number of arrests for the year to have been 3,947. Of this number, 3, 386 were males and 561 were females. The largest number of arrests for any single offense was for drunkenness, there being of this class 1860.
 The amount paid to the tax collector for amusement licenses was $1,293, and for ve- hicle licenses $434 50. The value of stolen property recovered was $11, 174.33.
 
 State COrregpOnQenc0,