The herald., 1896-01-21
THE DUTY OF THE POLICE
COMMISSION

The police commissioners of Los An
geles will meet in regular weekly ses-
sion today. Presumably the commits
sioners are reasonably we'll acquainted
with the statutory enactments which
define the powers of arrest and deten-
tion possessed by police departments
in the state of California. Presuma-
bly, also the commissioners have at
least limited knowledge of those pro-
visions in both the federal and state
constitutions relative to the rights of
people subjected to arrest by the po-
lice. If the members of the commits
sion do not know these statutory and
constitutional provisions, they are not
fitted for the places they hold. And if
they are legally versed to the extent
presumed, their apparent utter un-
mindfulness of the way the depart
ment they are appointed to govern ig-
nores and violates the lawis absolutely
inexcusable.
The police department of this city
has habitually INDUCED in usurpations
of authority and outrageous infringe
ments of the legal rights of the people,
and it is Incredible to suppose that the
police commission has been in ignor-
ance of these acts. Time and again the
local press has contained the account
Of the arrest and surreptitious impris
onment of men merely suspected of
committing or of being involved in
some crime. The recent arrest and Sc
cret incarceration of man named
Compton, and the sensational, rutfian-
ly and lawless conduct of the respon-
sible detective, have been instrumental
in bringing the intolerable methods of
the police once again to the front.
The Compton case is but one of
multitude of the kind. The met hods
used in that case are the methods COM
mon with the police department of Los
Angeles. They are also the methods
common in Russia, Turkey and South
America and other semi-civilized and
bsrbarous countries under the control
Of despots and dictators, and therefore
they might be expected to be uncom-
mon in an enlightened county, gov
erned by written laws intended to pro-
tect people in their personal rights.
The Compton case, it will be recol-
lected. is one wherein the party was ar
rested without warrant by the thin
skinned and handyfisted Goodman.
and without being informed of the
charge against him, and without having
charge entered on the record book of
the Jail, was incarceratsd from Friday
afternoon of one week until Monday
afternoon of the following week. No
opportunity was given him to COM
municste with friends, relatives or
counsel, and for all the latter knew the
earth might have opened and swal-
lowed him. Mr.. Compton was sub.
jected to the indignity, humiliation
and discomfort Of being treated as a
criminal, though up to date no charge
of crime has been preferred against
him by the kidnapping detective, and
his release from the Second street
bastile was only obtained after his at
torneyS with whom he communicated
thEoIgN the medium of a discharged
prisoner, lad made repeated demands
and met with repeated denials that his
client was held a prisoner. The reason
given for ths arrest and detention Of
Compton was that he was needed as a
witness. A witness against whom and
for what? A witness against defen.
dRnt not yet named or arrested, in
case of which there is no record
The Compton case is typical. Men
and boys of good character, respectable
family and excellent associations have
been picked up on the highways o.
taken from their homes without know
ing the reason therefor, thrown into
the disgusting dungeon designated a:
city prison and kept thera days auc
even weeks, while the enterprising de
tectives raked the field of criminal pos
sibilities for sufficient evidence witt
which to construct the skeleton of G
case. In these instances. as in tht
Compton case, no opportunity has beer
afforded for communication with the
outside world, and no chance was give1
the prisoners to avail themselves of tht
legal rights allowed by the law of th'
state and the union to people charged
with crime.
And when the record building detec.
tives have become convinced that the
only case they had against these un
fortunate victims of their zeal or stu
,pidity, or possibly worse, existed ir
their own imaginations, they have beer
willing to graciously release the lille
gelly detained parties with the cordia
assurance of their sorrow at the failur
to make case.
These instances of official outrage