The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-12-15
Glass Files the Annual Report
TO the Council
HE WANTS MORE POLICEMEN
A Police Signal System Is Very Badly
Needed
The Chief Wants New Ordinances, and Sug-
gests that a Prisoners Stockade Be
Located at Eiysian Park


arrests were made by the department dur
ing the year. and property aggregatng in
value $35, O43 was reported as having been
pilfered and lost, of which amount S1S,-
694.65 was recovered. The total amount
of fines and forfeitures paid into the police
court was $9,742
Among other things the chief says:
1.-THE roster shows that the pre- sent num-
Der of the force, including the matron, Is
eighty-three. In the year just closed five
officers have been dismissed, one-J. +.
Magure-has died, and sixteen have been
appointed. OF the latter, ten were acting
as special officers for more than year
before they were appointed regulars, so
this action has not increased the force ac-
tually on duty last year. The detective
squad, and necessary details for head
quarters, take twenty men, so that we
have but siXty-three officers Tor regular
patrol duty, which is entirely too small
force to properly protect our people.
When | was first appointed chief OF the
police department there were fully l2O
regular and special police officers on duty,
and this number was then found none too
large. notwithstanding that our city then
had certainly not more than two-thrds OF
its present population. In my judgment
the most serious question in police matters
to now be considered is q substantial in
crease of the force. We have city as
large as a township III most any one OF the
eastern states. The area is fraction over
thirty-eight and one-half square miles. in
GLIDING Highland Park. which has recent
ly come into the city and is entitled to po-
lice and fire protection. | therefore rec
onlmend an increase of at least twenty
five men. and of this number eight or ten
should be mounted, to patrol the residence
portions of the city.
81 hope that before another year has
passed away we will be comfortably To-
Gated in our new quarters, and while on
this subject, / wish to suggest before it is
too late to do so, the propriety of having
good stable built, with stall room for
twelve to eighteen horses, so that we may
be able to take care of our own stock: and
in this connection | call your attention to
the fact that we must have four medium
sized horses for our patrol wagons. instead
of the two horses which are now too old
and clumsy for such use, but will be
good car horses for your street depart
ment for some years. The matter of young
er and faster horses for our patrol wagons
. Mould be attended to at once las the wagons
are often called to make hurried trips of two
or three miles, after which our old horses
are completely exhausted and unfit for
further service until rested.
III also desire to respectfully suggest and
request that when making the estimate of
the appropriation for the police depart
$4,000 be included and set aside for the
purpose of establishing police signal sys-
TEN, which shall consist of a register in
the central office, and at least twenty-five
or thirty signal boxes i'll different parts of
the city, to be hereafter selected, and il
may not be out of place at this time to
state that the general equipment of the
police department is, to a marked degree,
not only poor and antiquated, but that in
important details there is want of that
which is absolutely necessary TO carry out
ordinary functions of the department.
More important. perhaps, than any other
deficiency in equipment. is the want of
any adequate means of supervision over
patrOlnen on their beats. or any facilities
for prompt communication between the Of
ticers at the central station and the patrol
men, upon whose faithfulness and vigilance
depends very largely tEe efficiency of the
police. All of the large cities of
the United States, and very many small
ones, are today equipped with a
police signal systemof some kind. These
systems. although different in some re-
spects, consist in the main of signal boxes
and a central station apparatus. The sig
nal boxes are placed at intervals through
out the city, and are SO arranged that there
shall be at least one box for every four Of
tcers -four officers could use one box by
having it located where four beats corner,
but it would be much better to have box
AOcdtcl Ill tilS CtHtt u each DedIl. hacn
box Is connected with the central station.
and contains telephone, and also an au-
tomato signal device by means of which
the reports of the officers of their presence
on their beats, and the more usual calls
for the patrol wagon, fire or reserves may
be quickly sent and recorded at the station
house. Instead of iron boxes, attached to
lamp posts or the walls of buildings, some
systems use iron booths. These give the
officers greater privacy in sending and re-
ceiving telephone communications. and
also provide places where prisoners may
he placed in cases OF emergency. Other
notifications OF the system are the wis
ual signals used in some cities. These
are colored lamps. or indicators, placed
over or near the boxes, by means of which
the officer at the station house can call
patrolmen 10 their respective boxes
for orders. Furthermore, keys to these
signal boxes could be given TO trustworthy
citizens, who would thus he enabled to call
police assistance at any time of the day or
night. The police of this city have used
private telephones for years, when the own
ers OF the same would permit us to, but
when business houses are closed at night,
the time we most need the telephones we
can't get at them. This is in size and inn
portancc the second city on the Pacific
coast, and 1t Is. ! think, improving more
rapidly than any other city in the United
States, but in equipments and modern ap-
puanceS Tor the use OF the city police de-
partment we are sadly deficient, and not
abreast OF the times. and | therefore most
earnestly hope that your honorable body
will grant the appropriation asked for
which will do great deal to set us right
The officers of the department have done
good work throughout the year, and have
been brought out for monthly inspection
and drill We have needed badly an as
sembly room for general instructions, and
Quarters Tor reserve force, but these
needs will, trust. be supplied in our new
station.
II again respectfully recommend that a
branch police station be established in the
southern portion of our city. somewhere
near Main street, between Washington
and Jefferson streets, This is absolutely
necessary to enable us to give proper
protection to the residents of the said part
OF the city. The East Los Angeles station
has been improved and enlarged and has
been of great benefit to us.
VI further respectfully suggest and rec
ommend that new men appointed as police
officers be taken on probation for a time.
and that they be given wages something
less than the regulars receive until such
time as they may prove themselves to be
proficient in tho performance of their
duties.
~ again recommend that an ordinance
be passed prohibiting the use of fireworks
on our streets on all occasions. esDecialIv
the Fourth of July and other HOLIDAYS.
without first having secured written per-
INIT from the mayor. ating when and
where the said fireworks may be used
Il also recommend that an ordinance be