Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-07

veillance.
The policy of all past administrations to
RAID these houses under the summary con.
vlction ordinance a. proper remedy c1ted
by Your Honor and recommended in your
last communication, Is wholly ignored by
TINS department.. as / am of the firm opinion
tnat the ratding and dragging OF these IN
Fortunate victims before police magistrate
Tor summary conviction and fine and return
TO the same business. is a most nefarious ad-
mlnistration OF police affairs.
Not a New Policy.
The policy of this department, as herein
stated and reiterated, is not q new one, not
new to the public and not new to Your
Honor-as in my four preceding annual re-
ports this has been given to the public open
ly and submitted officially to Councils; and
in the last annual report, under my ap-
proval and direction, the superintendent OF
Police, Roger 0'Mara, gave a complete, full
and exhaustive statement of the social evil.
its causes, regulation and effects, and that
report, taken in its entirety, is full and
falr statement of the facts, so lar as the
police are concerned.
Third--The Superintendent of the Bureau
of Police and myself on my part, after fVe
years OF most careful study and 1nvestlga-
tfon, and the uperintendent after 70 years
of personal experience ana observation, are
of the opinion that the enforcement of Sec
tion 81, page 366 OF ThomDson's Digest to-
w.t. the raid, the police magistra te, sum-
mary conviction and fine Will not remove
the evil. but tnat it will only change the
form thereof and spread this nefarions busi-
ness, which is now local sore and plague
spot, over the entire city, driving the same
into rooms, houses, dormitories, tenement
houses, offices, alleys, by-places and private
places, wholly beyond the reach and con-
troll, surveillance and regulation of the police
department. increasing solicitation, drunk
enness, venereal disease, vice and crime.
Prostitution is q most objectionable sin
and wholly indetensible, and l especially
call Your Honor's attention to the fact that
l am not Offering an apology therefor nor
seeking to defend it in any manner. shape or
form, but in my capacity as Chief of the De-
partment of Public Safety, cannot theor1ze
with social problems, but am forced to
practical test and operation SO lar as tne
regulation of these evils is concerned un-
der discretionary municipal law, the
greatest good for the greatest number being
the rule. Virtue is not product OF the
club, but of prayer. The Scarlet Letter
needs no resort.
The Platform of the Police.
This is the platform upon which the police
day by day and month by month are cOr-
trolling this crime, lessening and contrnct-
ing its effects and keeping it under close
police surveillance, regulation and control.
1t is question that has affected all large
cities in all countries and in all times. Ny
own observation, based upon personal
investigation OF all large cities from Quebec
Orleans. is, that the evil is regulated today
in the city of P1ttsburg the equal of any
city in the United States.
Fourth-Your Honor will observe our
exact position from what has been previous
ly said but, if you are of the opinion that
Section 81 of the Charter Ordinance, giving
yop supervisory power is paramount to
and over Section Is, which gives absolute
control of police affairs to this department.
the superintendent and myself are willing
toabandon the tried, and We believe the sue
lnf -l.n n
adopt any new theory or new policy that
Your Honor may desire to put into execu-
tion during the brief time of your term as
Mayor of this city.
. But we would most respectfully ask
your Honor to clearly outline what
the said policy should be, fix a date op
which you desire the same to be put in oper-
alton and the manner in which you desire
to have the same carried out and assume
the responsibility for the success or failure
thereof. Very truly yours.
j. o. Brown,
Chief Department Public safety.
Ex-Judge Eetterman's Opinion
Ex-Judge Fetterman's opinion on propo-
sitions submitted to him bearing on the con-
troversy follows:
PITrsBgRG, PA, Dec. 6. 1892.
10; Brown, Esq. Chief Department of Public
Safety.
DEAR sR-In answer to your favor of De-
D.
following propositions to wit:
First-Is Section q, page 366 of Thomp-
sons Digest of the City Code, discretion
ary ordinance or a mandatory one?
Second-In your opinion is the policy of
raiding and summary conviction before
police magistrates legal?
beg leave to submit the following:
Section 81. page 366. of Thompson's Digest
of the City Code is the ordinance OF March
29, 1869. relating to disorderly houses, which
reads as follows:
quented by persons for lewd and unchaste
purposes, all unlicensed public dance
houses, and all houses and places where in
toxicating liquors are sold without license
or contrary TO the laws of the Common
wealth, shall be deemed and held to be dis
orderly houses, and the police of said city
are empowered to arrest every keeper
thereof and every person found therein, and
to bring all such persons before the Mayor
of said city Tor examination and hearing,
and each such above described person
whom the Mayor shall adjudgo guilty of
maintaining such houses, or of visiting the
same for improper purposes shall be fined
not less tnan S. or more than 500 for each
offense and i'll default OF such payment OF
fine and costs, shall be committed to the
common j5il of Allegheny county for
period of not more than 90 days"
Left to Official Discretion.
This ordinance empowers the police Of
the city to execute the provisions thereof,
but makes no provisions as to the manner
in which the arrests may be made, and
Therefore there being a discretionary power
left to the officer as to the time, manner and
place of enforcement OF the ordinance, it
cannot be claimed as mandatory one.
For, as said in Potter's. Dwarris on statutes,
page IA, "When the terms of a statute leave
room Tor an administrative discretion to be
exercised it cannot be Interpreted to be
mandatory" but in the enforcement of
the Ia in the absence of any provision as
to the enforcement thereof a certain discre-
tion is necessarily lefg with the officer
whose duty it is to enforce such laws as to
the time and the place and the manner in
which he will execute his duty, and so long
as he exercises sound Judgment and discre-
tion within the prescribed limits of the law
in the enforcement thereof he will be pro-
tected, and beyond that ne does it on his
own individual responsibility and without
the protection of the law; in other words, he
is simply n trespasser upon the rights of the
citizen.
In answer to your second proposition, 1
would state that section 2l, page 566, OF
Thompson's Digest, commonly known as the
'Taiding ordinance" provides the manner
in which the ordinance shall be enforced,
and it cannot be enforced in any other man
ner.
TIE system of raids that has been in vogue
in Pittsburg previous to the new charter
going into effect is wholly wrong, aud with
out law to sustain it.
Two Ways to Enforce the Law.
There are but two ways in which you and
your officers can enforce the penal ordi-
nances and laws of the city of Pittsburg-
either by warrant issued upon Information
properly made before a magistrate, desig-
mating the parties upon whom the warrant
is to be served. and served by proper Of
ficers, or the Officer himself, on view of
misdemeanor or felony being committed, to
make the arrest and take the person before
a m ari iefr fa fnr iGh-