The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-24

Some Of the Duties of '@the Guardians
Of the Peace"

ofrhe Peace"
The life of the policeman is not a desir-
able one, by any means, as he is not only
subjected to the danger arising from deal
ings with the dangerous classes, but he is
exposed to all the extremes and inclemen-
cies Of the weather.
The police force of Savannah is composed
OF ffty-four privates. four sergeants, a
chief and detective. The latter has no
regular hours of service In addition to
this the Central Railroad Company has a
police force consisting of chief, three SER
geants and eighteen privates. The Central
| force has a room at the barracks, and its
night relief is awakened by the sentinel at
the sallyport, but this is merely an accommo-
datlon, as the sergeant of the city police on
duty at the barracks exercises no control
over the Central's force.
The Savannah, Florida and Western rail-
way has force of police, but they do not
rendezvous at the barracks. They are
! clothed with police powers, and in all
arrests the prisoners are lodged in the bar
racks.
The first relief of the city police, twenty
five strong, goes on the street at g. 80 D. m
after the roll has been called by the sergeant
on duty at the barracks, and the beat of
each policeman assigned him. Before dis
by the sergeant. Then, if their accoutre-
ments are all right, the men are dismissed.
and go off singly to the relief of the day
men. At 1l:45 the second relief
Is reviewed, their beats assigned, and
the men relieve these who have been on
duty the first half of the night. Those re-
lieved come in and report to the sergeant,
who checks their names on the roll Twelve
or thirteen, alternatively, go home for the
of fho Nbes.. 81.
the barracks, subject to cal in case of fire
or other emergency, and at 6 o'clock in the
morning they come on what is called the
dog watch" and do duty on the street UNI
til O'Clock a. m. when they are relieved by
the men who went home at midnight, and the
latter do duty until 80 o'clock, p M. and
are relieved by another force which serves
until the FIRST relief goes out 1t will be
seen that the force is double at night.
One policeman is on duty all day at the
market house, one at the station house, and
one in the police building.
A sergeant OF police is on duty constantly
at the police headquarters, there is always
one in reserve in the building. and one is
supposed to be almost constantly on duty
on the street, except when the chief of police
makes the rounds.
The sentinel who may be stationed at the
sallyport also has to make stated rounds to
o4udAO duQ tobuEl. w nel Iu6
police come in they are supposed to report
anything suspicious which has come under
their observation during the day or night.
Ii the sergeant on duty thinks it q
matter requiring further investigation he is
supposed to detail one or more policemen to
look after it, A telephone call usually
means to send the ambulance for some one
injured, or for man found drunk 'lying
in the street" so far gone that locomotion is
impossible and he must be hauled in. MANY
messages are sent in by citizens, and others
call at the barracks and report matters
which require attention. If it is a near by
call the sallyport sentinel is sent out. If a
riot or general row is in progress or immi-
nent, or some one has shot or stabbed an
other and effected an escape a
sergeant and mounted force is dis
patched at once to the scene Of the trouble
and the entire force on duty is rapidly COM
municated with and the avenues of escape
shut off. In addition to the side arms and
billy" the guns and ammunition are kept
at police headquarters in case of an
emergency for more effective measures
There is belief that the present force is
inadequate for the wide area of the CITY.
and especially in the southern and south
western part of the city, which has rapidly
built up the past year and which has very
little if any police protection. 1t is con-
coded to be only question of the near
future when water works, street lights and
a better police protection will have to be
extended to the territory south of Anderson
street