The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1896-01-16
BIG WAVE OF CRIME.
NEW YORK UNDERGOING ALMOST A
REIGN OF TERROR.

One<Thousand Felonies In . Month-Po-
lice Force Totally Inadequate-Possible
Return to Byrnes' Famous Plan Of EN-
ploying Stool Pigeons.
The records Of the New York police
department show that crimes of violence
or felonies increase and decrease within
certain periods without any apparent
cause. Crimes have been increasing so
rapidly of late in some quarters Of that
city that people are panic stricken and
are afraid to leave their homes after
dark The wave of crime appears to be
at its full height, and the energetic
efforts of nearly 1000 policemen have
not had any perceptible effect in pre-
venting its commission. Arrests are be-
ing made for felonies at the rate Of
about 500 a month, but the ranks Of
crooks seem to fill up so rapidly that
these arrests have not had any effect.
1t has been the policy Of the police
for years to prevent publicity in all
cases of felony in which the alleged
offender is not arrested. If the records
of all complaints entered in station
house blotters are compared with the
record of arrests which are kept in po-
lice headquarters, it will show that in
considerably less than SO per cent Of the
cases are the complaints followed by
arrests.
The police claim, with considerable
show of pride, that robberies involving
large sums of money by thieves in the
first rank have been held in check, but
it cannot be denied that small or forci-
BILE robberies are on the increase.
The felonies committed will average
about 1000 month, and many Of the
offenders escape because under the pres
ent system of communicating between
station houses and police headquarters
there is always more or less delay in no.
tifying the detective bureau of the COM
mission of a crime. Criminals, even
murderers, frequently get four or five
hours, start, as appears from the record
in the Krauer murder case, before COM
petent detectives are detailed to work
on the case.
The thieves in New York hailed with
delight the announcement made by Act
ing Captain O'Brien, when he took
charge of the detective bureau, to the
effect that the detective force would be
operated without the aid Of stool pi-
geons. When ex-Chief Byrnes was in
charge of the detective bureau, he estab-
lished stool pigeon corps which was
SO powerful and we'll organized that
thieves, big and little, were afraid to
talk about or make plans for an impor-
tant robbery of any kind. No thief could
be sure that he was not talking to one
of Byrnes spies, and this kept robbery
in check. The effect Of the practical
abolition of the stool pigeon system was
to encourage thievery, and it is the be-
lief of policemen who have had long OK
perience that the present activity in
criminal circles is largely due to the alb
sence of the stool pigeon and his daily
reports to the station house or his favor
ite detective.
1t is a record of the detective bureau,
though not one open for public inspec-
tion, that in the 10 years ex-Chief
Byrnes was in charge of the bureau at
least rs per cent of the arrests made
were due to the work of the stool pi-
geon. The percentage of arrests at pres
emit, in comparison with the number of
complaints made Of crimes committed,
is much less than it was when the stool
pigeon was the premier detective in the
department, although he did not get
credit for his work publicly. New
York Recorder.