The record-union., 1897-01-20
A STATE CONSTABULARY.
Warmly Advocated by the San jose
"Mercury."
(F'rom the San Jose Mercury

(F'rom the San Jose Mercury)
The Sacramento "Record-Uni de-
serves credit for the persistency with
which it is hammering away at the prop
osition to establish State constabulary.
1t has shown by facts and figures that
five experienced detectives, one being
chief centrally located, and the others
at distant points, having authority to
call upon and cooperate with the Sher-
ifs, Constables and police officers
throughout the State, can be salaried
and all their expenses met for not more
than SoO,O0O a. year, and that they
would save to the counties of the State
annually thrice that sum by repreSS-
ing crime, in rendering the escape OF
criminals unlikely and by bringing Of
tenders to punishment. Take, for in
stance, the case of Dunham, who in one
night exterminated a family in this val
ley. The deed was committed in a
thickly inhabited section, the murderer
was we'll known, and yet he succeeded In
making his escape, although the Sheriff
and his deputies We're on his track With
in a few hours after the commission of
the crime No officer could have done
than Sheriff Lyndon has done, yet the
criminal is still at large. He has ex-
pended the equivalent of one and pos
sibly two years salary in running down
reputed Dunhams, and the county has
also been put to great expense in the
attempt to capture the murderer. There
is large standing reward for his appre-
hension, but so far as results are con-
cerned, it may as well never have been
offered And this is but one of a dozen
similar instances that could be men
toned. Is it not plain that there Is
something seriously at fault in our
criminal system?
What is needed is a system that shall
be thorough and comprehensive. The
remedy for existing defects is a state
constabulary. AS the Record Union
says: Under a State constabulary sys-
tenn there would be no loss of time in be-
| ginning pursuit, no cessation of it, no
cross purposes in following the offender,
but little misguidance by reason Of unre-
liable descriptions and accounts; no for
getfulness as to details; no following in
straight lines. On the contrary, avenues
of escape would be closed; county Juris-
dictions would not become obstacles;
criminals would be sourrounded and
trapped with a large degree of certainty
and justice would be more likely to have
her due.
The State Constables would be in
constant communication with every OFF,
Ger. prison warden and police force in
the United States. They would have
means and devices at command that the
| lindependent officers cannot have. There
would be no secreting of prisoners, no
conceaIment of facts which if known
would lead to their apprehension, in
hope of the offer of reward.
| A bill along the lines suggested ought
to meet with favor by the Legislature.
Under the present imperfect, system, II
criminal succeeds in escaping beyond
the boundary of the county in which the
crime was committed, which ordinarily
he can do with ease, the chances are
all in his favor The chaAces of per
! manent escape are still further IN
Icreased when once ne reaches some point
outside the State After a year or two
| there is a change In criminal officers,
other crimes have been committed and
| his own forgotten, and if he is ever ap-
pretended it is through the merest acci-
dent. It would be the business OF a
| state constabulary to keep track OF all
grave crimes committed in the State,
and they would be in position to cause
! a concerted, systematic and intelligentiy
conducted hunt for the criminal the
moment that his crime should be dis
covered.