Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-05
OUR POLICE Riot.
How 20 Remedy the Evil-A Novel Sug.
gesfion-Let the War Department
Police the City.


To the Editor of The EVENING STAR.
The interests of Washington, as everybody
knows, require that 1t should be the best po-
Iced city in the werld, and not one of the worst.
1t is peculiarly necessary. to put 1t on no higher
than material grounds, that the living of law
abiding and weil-disposed people here, of what
ever station in life, should be made as secure
and pleasant as possible. The capital has so
many charms that the blot which does exist is
doubly unbearabIe
In those quarters where the people are able
to protect themselves from rum shops and side
walk hucksters where there is the most to be
found that is worth stealing, the burglar and the
sneak thief flourish. In those quarters where
there is not much to steal. but where many
respectable and gently bred people try to live
I'm neatness and comfort and peace. the butcher
who ornaments the sidewalk with dead hogs.
the corner-lOafer and the bowling hOOdlum are
the only happy and protected class Such po-
Iicemen as there are say they 'can't." and put
the responsibility on the suffering citizen; their
officers put il on the Police Court; the Police
Court puts it on the law. SO it goes. The
police fall, the court fails, the law fails.
AN AVERAGE OF BLAME.
If the police do not respect the court and the
court does not sustain the police, IT is natural
that nobody else should care for either of them.
While there IS not any one thing so bad as to
be conspicuous in the dead-level of inef1iciency.
the court, the law, and the police are all so far
from what they should be that they are all fall
ing into contempt among those who would be
glad to take pride in them. We're this COM
munity compelled to govern itself we would
have to grind along through the temporary re-
forms. the spaSmOdic improvements the newt
able relayatlOns that mark the history of other
cities in trying to keep their police business up
to the proper standard of purity and efficiency.
But Washington is blessed with
ONE POSSIBLE REMEDY
that no others have.
It is remedy that should satisfy those patri-
Otic organizations which seek to restrict our
selection of policemen to men of their own
class. 1t viii not disturb the equality of the
burdea which rests the United States and
the District alike. but will make the expense
much lighter for each 1t will do more than
anything else that can be devised to bring
promptly to the bar of justice every offender
who Belongs there. II will secure officers who
viii notice whatever the law and the welfare Of
the citizens require them to notice 1t will
secure an abundant supply of patrOlmen who
will execute their orders every. time 1t will be
respected and believed in. 1t will be looked
upon with gratitude and confidence by the
orderly and honest 1t will be bad for the
ruflan, the burglar the corner lOaier and the
yawping hoOdlum. 1t will be more disinter-
ested. fearless and Independent in its action
than anything else can be supplemented by q
code of law enacted in the interest OF order and
civilization. and court as indenpendent and
fearless as itself this remedy would do more for
the good name of Washington and for the hap
piness and prosperity of her ctIZers than any
other chat can be applied 1t may seem diff
cult to obtain. but 1T ought not To be, and we
believe would not be.
Why not
WIPE OUT OUR WHOLE POLICE FORCE
from stem to stern from center to circumfer-
enee, and turn that business over to the War
department?
The army has more officers than can easily be
made useful to their government in these
piping times OF peace. 1t costs less to keep a
soldier than a policeman. By employing
''federal bayOnets" here in the federal city We
would not tread on any political toes. as might
be done in the states. The army, in time of
peace, Is but the national police force anyway
and there is no filter way to use it than in pro-
tecting the civilization of the national capital
And there is such difference, to be sure. be-
tween man in uniform patrOling the street
with uniform and another man in uniform
patroling it with a revolver and club, WASH
1ngtOn is quite as familiar with federal bayOnets
as any other city. and the good people here
who are net children and believe i'm things
rather than names are not afraid of them.
Surely there is as much reason in employing
small part of this national police force in this
nonpOliticai national capital as in putting into
the hand of the War department the rivers and
harDOrs in all the states. Yet how quickly and
wisely We came to that. Here sits continually
the Secretary of War. a civil officer under
whose immediate eye the work would be done
Ii Lydecker and Greene and HOxie can do our
engineering, why cannot their comrades do our
polcing-and do it efficiently? We think if
they should do it the hoOdlums would not make
fan of the patrOlmen. and it would not be i'm
possible to find guardian when and where he
was wanted. and when found he would not be
DO heavy that he couldn't catch anybody worth
catching.
Gentlemen of the One Hundred, is there
something in this?. N.Y.