The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-08
A YEAR WITH THE POLICE.
CHIEF M'DERMOTT's AND THE COM
MISSIONS REPORTS.

of the 3,747 Arrests Last Year, 1,131
Were of White Persons and 2,616
of COlOred-The Detectives Arrest
ed 457 - Forty-Seven Burglary
Cases, 443 Larceny and ~ Murder
Cause.-The Commission RECON-
mends an Addition of Ten Men 10
the Force-The Police Alarm syS-
tenn.
The annual report of the police COM
mission, accompanied by that Of the chief
| of police and the superintendent of the
police telegraph system, was received yes
terday by Mayor Myers. The three re-
ports contain much that is of interest.
The workings of the department during
the year are recounted..
The appropriation was $4,000 to which
was added $295.91 from the following
items: Sale of stable refuse. $40; fees and
empty sacks, 1881; condemned horses,
$24O. The expenditures were $79.306.94.
This included an excess of 81, S3S43 for
uniforms, the commission having found
that 1t could not properly uniform the
force with the special appropriation of
property of the department, amounting
to $59O6S were made necessary by the
September storm, which was paid out of
its budget by the commission. The amount
of the budget unexpended is $693.06.
Attention is called to the necessity for
enllrging the guard house. There are
only seven cells for the detention of pris-
oncrs,' the reports states, land sometimes
these and the corridors connecting them
Ia1 IL .Arr W,saN
room enough for the prisoners to lie down
There is at present no provision for the
separation of the sexes. Our department
requires guard house of at least twenty
cells, with modern appliances for heating
and other conVeniences, and we sincerely
hope that council will see it's way to make
the necessary appropriation of about 5000
for the required alteration during the next
year"
The board commends Chief MeDermott
for strict attention to his arduous duties
ami also Lieut.. Reilly for his efficient
serVice Special attention is called to the
work done by the detectives. An increase
of the force to 80 privates is recommended.
The report of Chief McDermott, which
accompanies the report of the commits
sion, shows that there were 3,7H arrests
by the police during the year, 1,131 whites
and 2,616 colored. OF this number 457 ar
rests were made by the detectives, 119
White and 338 colored. There were AZ ar
rests for burglary and 443 for larceny, of
which the four detectives arrested 81 bur-
glars and 1872 thieves. There were q ar
rests for murder, 8 white and Is colored.
The aggregate strength of the depart
ment is 81, officers and men-1 chief, l lieu
tenant, 4 sergeants, 4 detectives, 70privates
and l clerk.
The Ocean Steamship Company's force,
doing duty exclusively on property of that
company and the Central railroad is "a
men, sergeants and q privates, making
total available force of 105 officers and
men.
Special mention is made of the fact that
after the storm of Sept. %, the city was
left in total darkness for seven nights,
and yet not single burglary was COM
mitted. The police force was divided in
to two relefs, and put on twelve hours
duty each relief.
The report of Superintendent w. D.
Claiborne of the police telegraph system
is attached to the commissions report
The superintendent makes several recon-
mendations for the improvement of this
branch of the service which are deserv-
ing of the attention of the commission
The expenses of this branch of the serv-
ice for the year were $685.