The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-03-18
POLICE REPORT FOR 1896.
WAT THE PRESENT BOARD SAYS IT
HAS ACCoMPL ISHED.

There II Less Crime In New work thnn
Ever Berore-The Bi-Partisan system At.
tncLed-A Good WORD FOR the nsntnes Bill.
Tho annual report Of the Police Department
for 1896 was sent to Mayor Strong Yesterday.
Il would fill nearly q page of THE Sun. A
rood deal Of Il is taken up with an attack on
The bipartisan system. Commissioner Parker
does not agree with some parts OF the report.
Among other things tho report declares that
the D, esent board found the department in u
demornlized condition. comparable 81 h moth.
ing in its history" but that corruption las
been stopped.'' and there is now lees crime
than there used to be.
The report calls especial attention to the
fact that. In the twenty months the present
board has been in office. there have been 1s9
dismissals from the force. while in 1890 there
were but 20 di.missals, in 1901, 20; in 1892.
10; in 1898. IL, and in 1894. Al.
in regard TO the enforcement Of the old Ex-
else law, the report says:
When the present boerd took Office It was
considered almost n truism to assert hat tho
Excise law could not be enforced in New York
city. while its partial and corrupt enforcement
afforded an appall.ngly efficient method Of
eorruptlnG the department on the one hand and
Of matchmaking liquor sellers on the other.
The board determined that this law should
be enforced with impartiality. exactly as other
laws were enforced. The result was that for
the first time in its history the Excise law vas
thoroughly snd honestly administered in New
York. The means employed by the board were
perfectly simple. and consisted merely in in.
rlsting thpt the wealthy liquor sellers and those
who possessed great political influence should
pe. treated precisely as their weaker brethren
were treated. When we took office there were
hundred, of saloons that were closed on sun
those being closed which did not pay black
mail. or whose owners. for some reason or
DoIIiee officers. or of influential politicians who
Rad power with these officials. We enforced
the law with rigid equity upon all alike. In
consequence We made all alike close. Yet,
though we shut the saloo.s on sun lay. we
actually made fewer arrests than had been
I'VE pursued the same tactics with gambling
houses and disorderly houses. and with much
The same success, in spite OF he scant help We
received from a few OF the executive and iuct-
cial officers of the Government and OF the OBJ.
stacles thrown In our way by the Comptroller"
After declal irg that under the present man
arement the New York police have done more
20 suppress crime than ever before. the report
continues:
upon the. force. because for the first time In its
history 1t has warred upon all criminals. In
ting at others. When the present board took
office the force ives honeycombed with corrup-
ton. Every species of purvevor of vice vas
allowed TO ply his or her trade umolnested, rart
~ IN consideration of paying blackmatl to the
police. partly in consideration OF giving NORMA
alton rs to th. criminals who belonged 10 the un-
protected classes. The result was twofold. Tae
police officers possessed ill-Gotten funds out Of
in catcllug~ criminals: and.theJ warred against
one.half OF the crimina. class with. as allies.
r. S Srass 9 np this mo5 Whole tls'9 business. n% OF Slaok mail
steerer. the law;breaktngl iqnor seller: the
are no longer protected: and the police no
longer obtain from them either money or In
SnrHIsrs. h IL tob6ePs. and murderers.
Nevertheless. so great has been, the improve
ment in the spirit of the force that they have
actually. although deprived Of their former
sorrnot allies. done better wolk. than ever be.
fore against those criminals who threatened
Fewer crimes of violence. fewer murders
and burglaries. relatively. TO the population
Tl fee ,S s.ty yo, aaT n1@ oGsIFr of ar .asn IN IN e shs DasI;
has increased. anc the number of cases in
which no arrest followed the commission of a
crime has decreased. Al one time certain OF
the more timid or less conscientious members
of the: well-tn-do classes in the community.
being misled by the interested clamor OF Ger.
tain of the newspapers. allies or tools of the
benefciaiies Of the system Of corruption; actu;
e SstY meshod, Inc and S0I To ,o % 9o of biscf to sSe s 0ld
vice. II BY SO doing theI could out a stop to
crimes of violence. The board refused to con-
such policy.
To e~xtirnate corruption IN q, force which
more corrupt is an uphill task. and one which
cannot DO accomplished IN a day. A a whole.
me corruption mas DeSl StOrpeC. although
there are doubtless even yet occasional in
stances of blackmail in some form"
Of the Raines law the report says:
The LIQUOR Tax law has lightened our Ia
bor5 considerably because OF the excellent pro-
vision requiring saloon keepers TO keep their
bars exposed daring prohibited hours. On the
other hand. we have met with cousidera ole
difficulty. owing to the establishment of fake
ina hotel is a guest. that ne is entitled 20 con-
slider that sandwich. whether eaten or not. as
. TnA anl ia ~ avA n II \ a. "a. L.
wants with IT."
In its a,,ack on the bipartisan system tho re-
The two worst fea lures OF tLe"bipartisan
act are. in the first place. that is divtdes'respon
stbllity; indeed. TO a large extent. %centrlng the
another: and. In the second place. that It rem
ders immeasurably greater tho already sum-
out ora four-headed commission: for a four.
headed commission Is necessarily a clumsy ex-
"A single-headed commission, whore the
Commissioners shall have both power and re-
sponsibility., Is undoubtedly the best: II this
cannot be obtained. then q three-headed COM
mission Is next best, because under such a
commission there must almost of necessity
~os!tion, SO that action will be reasonably expedi-
t!ous. With a four-headed commission. however.
there Is always a good chance CT a deadlock.
and therefore at-crtttcal moments OF inAction
that NAV be worse than even unwise action.
There 10, however. always a chance that at
least three OF the members will act together.
The trainers of the bipartisan bill sav this.
and provided against. 1t with an ingenuity
which tley could not have surpassed II they
had deliberately SGT themselves the task of
Putting.a premium, uron lneficiency In the Po-
lice Department. In one of the most i'm.
portant Of the boards functions. that OF pro
notion. they provided that no promotion
should be male except By the Unanimous vote
Of the board. unless on tho written recon-
mendation OF the Chief; and the present Chief
announces that under no circumstances will
he make such Recommendation, unless in the
absence or death of = Commissioner
The board believes that the commission
headed. that It should consist of an uneven
number OF Commissioners. with the majority
ruling"