The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-18
SEVERE ARRANGEMENT
LExow COMMITTEES REPORT ON
NEW YORK POLICE SYSTEM.
1t Says the Charges of Corruption,
B1ackmail, Etc., Were Fully Estab-
Iished-Recommendations.

the IeXoW committee, emDodying the re-
suits of its protracted Investigation of the
New York police department, was to-day
submitted to the Senate. The report states
that while during the first stages of the in
vestigation the difficulty lay mainly in
ability to procure testimony, as the investi-
cation progressed, as public sentiment be-
came more and more aroused and the de-
~velopments assumed from day to day a
more startling aspect, the number of the
witnesses and the variety of testimony Of
fered increased prodigiously, and the main
difficulty finally lay in sitting the good from
the mass and rejecting that which was
purely cumulative. On the second branch
of the investigation the committee was
especially fortunate in securing the active
support and cooperation of many repre-
sentative organizations, notably the Society
for the Prevention of Crime and it's dis
tinguished president, Rev. Charles H. Park
hurst; of the Chamber of Commerce, rep
resented by Charles Stewart Smith and Of
the metropolitan newspapers. Acknowledge
ment is also made of the service rendered
by Mr.. Golf.
The report deals somewhat at length with
the election fraud developments, in
which it was shown that the po-
lice invariably acted in the inter
est of Tammany. Proof of the
conclusion seems irresistible that under
the circumstances such as now exist in the
city of New York it becomes the paramount
duty Of the Legislature to remove as far
as practicable the possibility of the polit-
ical influences securing a controlling. power
over the police force. The future ascen-
dency of the same disorganizing and disin-
tegrating forces must be considered and a
remedy suggested which shall naturalize as
far as practicable their future baleful eff
forts.
The report states that the material col
lected by Rev. DR.. Parkhurst and the city
vigilance league was most valuable. The
Parkhurst evidence consisted exclusively of
acts Of omission and neglect of duty and
reluctance of the police to perform their
duty. 1t is the story of months and years
of struggl to compel the police department
to perform it's duty, revealing the fact that
a private organization was able to I'M
earth, uncover and fix the actual existence
of unlawful resorts, all of which had APP
parently escaped the eye of the police and
successfully defied their resources for the
detection of crime. 1t remained for the
committee to establish the motive for this
fishing a position which would more than
offset the power and authority of the po-
lice, the committee was compelled at times
to depart from the beaten track and pre-
cdent of legislative Investigations in the
admission of evidence which would have
bCCh ASAaACo Ny liz S0oAs 81 eNN0
PEELED at times to appeal to the courts, the
district attorneys office, and the grand jury.
While it was impossible for the commit
tee to spend much time in considering pc
lice courts. enough is shown upon the rec
ords to justify the conclusions that a very
important reason why the police have been
able to carry on and successfully perpe-
trate their reprehensibIe practices is .na1
apparently worked in sympathy and collu-
sion with them. The counsel and detectives
of the mmitt were surrounded by spies,
and witnesses who had been located were
frightened into silence or quieted by brides
ana in some cases removed from the juris-
diction of the committee. Large numbers
of persons whose testimony Involves hnan-
cial dealings with the police fled to other
States and remained away during the ses-
sion. 1t was shown that a colony of the
keepers of disreputable resorts had gone
to Chicago in order to evade the subpoena
of the committee.
The committee expresses the conviction
that the testimony taken conclusively es-
tablishes an indictment against the police
department of the city of New York as
a whole. 1t is generally conceded that the
municipal police are Jealous and unsur-
passed in efficiency and desire to protect
life and property upon the highways of
our city. 1t is a significant fact that but
pockets of the ordinary patrolmen. 1t is
probable and even certain from the testi-
mony that a large number of patrolmen
have paid sums averaging $500 for an ap-
pointment to the police force.
m The h testimony dIaondsr, On h sae suD'e seke on black aa :
whole, establishes conclusively the fact
that this variety of vice was regularly and
systematically licensed by the police. The
system had reached such a perfection in
detail that the inmates of the several
houses were numbered and classified and a
rateable charge put upon each proprietor
in proportion to the number of inmates or
in cases of houses of designation the num-
Der of rooms occupied and prices charged,
reduced to a monthly rate, which was
collected within a few days of the first of
each month during the year.
collision with gamblers, policy men, green
goods men, thives, professional bondsmen,
ETC., the report expresses the opinion that
there is much more to be learned about the
purchase of appointments and that this evil
is largely responsible for the decentralization
of the force. The Importance of eliminat-
ing the influence of political leaders upon
the patrolInen is dwelt upon.
The recommendations of the committee
cover the following points: 'The concentra-
ton In bonds in the hands of a chief of po-
lice of all police powers and that of sus-
pending subordinates without pay; the es-
adjustment of q bipartisan board of police
commissioners with exclusive authority over
elections and the judicial functions of the
departments, promotions on the force in
conformity with civil service rules, the ex-
animation of the account of the department
in the same manner that other departments
of municipal government are examined; the
commissioners who shall cooperate with
the mayor and the continuance of the COM
mittee of investigation"
Senator Canter is the only member of the
committee who does not sign the report.