Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-13
POLICE MAGISTRATES
The System Which Major Moore
Strongly Favors.
OFFICERS Nov KEPT FROM DUTY
The Plan Would Divide the Work
and Bring About Promptness.
AVORED AND OPPOSED

Major Moore for several years has rec
commended the establishment of the police
magistrate system During the present ses-
sion of Congress an effort will be made to
have some legislation on this subject Ell
acted. 1t is not Major Moore's desire to
have the present Police Court abolished
but to remain possibly with but one judge
as court of appeals. In mis- annual report
made only a few Gays ago, in calling the
matter to the attention of the Commission
erS, he said
Kept From Duty.
your attention has already been invited
IN previous reports to the delays incident to
the conduct of cases in the Police Court
On Monday mornings the prisoners held
at the several station houses are arraigned
there for trial. They number at the begin
ming of the week seldom less than loo
when it is considered that one officer or
more must be at court to make the informa-
ton or appear as witnesses, can it be Won
dersd that the streets and avenues of the
District are alarmingly unprotected at
times? With only two judges to dispose of
the various classes of cases arising under
TIE laws and ordil ances, notwithstanding
t22t the business is expedited at a rate
consistent with justice the delay in the
disposition of this vast number of cases
must be considerable. Even on the several
Gays following during the week, with a re-
Guced number of prisoners, the prosecution
demands the attention of police officers for
such length of time as to interfere ma
| ;erally with the efforts of the department
| to furnish the patrol service contemplated
| by law. During the last year members of
the force were required to remain In or
aECut the Police Court for the purpose
| named 1,794 times after the hour of IL
o'clock in the morning. When an officer
| makes an arrest the night before, whether
it be his time for rest at home or for reserve
duty at his station, 1t becomes necessary
for Linn to remain at the court until the
final disposition of the case or cases in which
he may be Interested
The Old Method.
Were this state of affairs confined to a
Jurisdiction of small area and a population
| less in number. such delays would not
seriously embarrass the transaction of cur
rent yolice business, but as it is the force
is sadly overstrained in the making of ar
| rests and the prosecution of cases. 1t is
reasonable to assume that when officers are
delayed and deprived of needed rest and
recreation they are mentally and physically
unprepared to pursue the duties which be-
long to them as preservers of the public
peace. The conditions should be such that
men making arrests the night before should
have their cases disposed of. and be relieved
of all responsibility therefor, at such an
nour the following morning as would give
them ample time to recover from the work
OF the previous night In 1864 police mag
istrates gave hearings during the day to per-
sons taken into custody. and their sessions
were held as early as o'clock in the morn
ing a the several stations BY this course
those liable were either imprisoned. fined or
released at the earliest possible hour with
out requiring the officers in the cases to go
beyond the confines of their station houses
aud consequently they were permitted to en-
joy the rest and relief to which they are
entitled under the regulations prescribed for
their discipline and government.
His Recommendation.
IN the interests of efficiency and for the
better protection of this community. con-
sisting of 2TO.519 people spread over an
area of nearly seventy-three square miles
l have no hesitation in recommending that
Congress be urged to make such provision
as will secure the appointment for each of
the precincts of a magistrate whose duty
stall be to give a preliminary hearing to all
classes OF cases subject TO prosecution by
police officers. The adoption of such a sys-
tenn with requirement that the magis-
trateS shall try cases as early as o'clock
each morning and as late as o'clock each
evening. would do away with existing evils,
anC often afford an arrested person an op-
portunity to avoid the humiliation of con-
fnement in a cell.
1T seems to me that with this simple ex-
plana ton of the situation there is little
room left for the maintenance or advocacy
or the present system of all-night incarcera-
ton and the transportation in the police
van OF prisoners from one end of the Dis
trict to the other. Prisoners taken on Sat
urday night are conveyed from the sta
ticns to the Police Court on Monday in a
vehicle constructed for such a purpose. and
the same process is followed every morning
throughout the week. At times when the
heat is excessive and the number of arrests
largely exceed those during the winter
months. human beings are packed in this
lnciosed conveyance to such an extent as to
m n =,
degrade those who may be declared not
guilty when tried, and also to the spread of
infectious diseases. After being transport
ed to the Police Court to await trial such
prisoners as may be sentenced to the work
mouse or Jail are again confined in the van
in numbers generally beyond its capacity
50 that by the time they reach the place as
signed them they have undergone almost
sufficlent penalty to Justify their release"
Favored by Officers.
Major Moore has made this Recommended
ton a number of times and most of the
officers favor the plan for the reason that
1t would not deprive them of so much of
their time when they should he at home
resting before returning to street duty. 1t
frequently happens. so a policeman told n
Star reporter, that an officer who comes
off duty at 6 o'clock in the morning has a
force Court case and other business which
Keeps him on his feet all day and gives
him virtually no rest before he returns to
street duty at 6 o'clock in the evening
Five MaCistratcs
In securing legislation Major Moore would
not ask for a magistrate at each station
but would ask for several of Them in order
that short sessions might be held at each
station once, or perhaps twice. in every
twcnty-four hours. The expense of such a
system. ii is claimed would be little if any
greater than the expense of the present
system of trying these cases, and as en-
pressed in the report, the persons arrested
would not have to be severely punished he
fore trial.
While the police favor this change. the
lawyers who depend upon Police Court
practice for a livelihood would probably
enter every objection possible. as it would
scatter the business to such an extent that
50 many lawyers could net make n living
Five magistrates, Major Moor, said to a
Star reporter, could attend to all the bust
EesS in the stations. One Of them would
have the station in which most arrests are
| made, and he could act in anothrr precinct
III event Of ;''.e of the others being sick
Concerning the matter of expense Major
Moore said that there would be no baiIiffs
or extra persons to care for the building
and the saving in the matter of feeding the
prisoners would amount to enough to pay
the salary Of one of the magistrates Upon
the whole, he thinks, the change might
CT,