Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-05-22
POLICE MATTERS.
The Commissioners Meet To-Day
For a New Deal.

Ihe commissioners meet AV-"S
For a New Deal.
The Police Commission, or rather wha
remains of it, will meet this afternoon a
2 o'clock in the Mayors office. Mr.. Bill
derrain has resigned, declaring that ht
will not put up with the insult which has
been put upon his fellow countrymen
the Spanish-Americans. 1t is hinteo
that Mayor Hazard would be very glad
to resign and get out of uncongenial
associations, only the charter will not
permit him to do that unless he gives up
his position of Mayor of the city.
The three remaining Commissioners
will meet and give the police force
another whirl. Their course of action
has been pretty we'll outlined already by
Mr.. Dexter, who put himself on record
at a meeting over in Boyle Heights last
Friday night. The Union veterans who
were discharged are to be reinstated,
together with several of the Spanish
Americans. The Boyle Heights men
who were dropped are to be put back. 1t
ia figured up by those who claim to know
that somewhere from fifteen to twenty
men will be removed from the present
list and their places filled by those who
were put out week ago.
There is no probability that the lively
scenes of a week ago will be renewed.
The Mayor will perhaps indulge in
few sarcastic remarks at the expense
of the three Commissioners who were 80
confident a week ago that they had the
list all right and would not need to make
ANY further changes. Now they come
forward and undo half of their own
work. The week has been an exciting
one for the triumvirate. They have
been besieged on all sides by policemen
who want to stay on, ex-policemen who
want to get on, Councilmen who threaten
dire punishment if their commands are
not obeyed, and political heelers who
will have their friends reinstated, or will
know the reason why. Each member of
the Commission has in his pocket list
which has been furnished him of
men who must be put on the force.
There is still larger list of men
who under no circumstances are to be
removed from the force. The two lists
added together usually produce total of
about one hundred and fifty, and there
are but eighty places to be filed. Some
body is sure to be left out, and be will
be mad and all his friends will be mad.
The lot of the Police Commission is not
happy one.
The police force is very naturally in a
demoralized condition. No officer, how
ever good his "pull" may be, is at all
sure OF his place. At any minute some
body may call for his head on charger,
John, the Baptist style. The new men who
were foolish enough to imagine when they
were given places by the Commission, that
there was to be permanent job, will
learn that they have been sadly mis-
taken. Several of them left good places
to go on the force. They will now be
out on the streets in search of work,
making unpleasant remarks about the
Police Commissioners. Even when the
new change is made, there will be no
certainty that the era of reform and re-
volution is over. The men on the force
all understand from experience that
there may be new deal next week. 1t
cannot be expected, of course, that the
new list will prove satisfactory to all the
members of the Council. Several
of them have been half inclined to
throw out the present Board, and
when the new list is prepared their in
tentions are likely to be confirmed. If
they are reinforced by few more the
result will be that after next Monday
there will be new Police Commission.
One new man must be elected in any
event and he may form a new coalition
with any two of the others and the result
will be new deal again.
Altogether, it is very neat sort of a
middle, in which the citizen and tax
payer is the chief loser and nobody in
particular much of gamer.