The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-21
POLICE AS BAD AS EVER.
MOSS sATs PlRKHURST AND LEXoH
ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING.

The Police Commissieper Surprises an Audience
or Nethodist Rinistsrs By his Frank Al
missions CencsrninE the Present Condttion
or tho Rorce-The OLD Evils sim Exist.
Frank Moss, President Of the Board OF Police
Commi sslonors, delivered q lecture yesterday to
tho Methodist ministers of Creator New York
upon tho subject: ''The Metropolitan Police
Of New York" Tho address was made at the
invitation of the Minister'S. and as Ia customary
at their regular Monday morning sosslons. none
but ministers was admitted. After tho lecture
Mr.. Moss refused to tell what he had said. At
fret he would not even admit that he had
talked about police matters at all. One Of the
ministers who heard the address and who saw
no reason why he should be ashamed TO tell
what he had learned, gave the following 40
count Of what took place behind closed doors:
Mr.. Moss opened by saying that he did no
pretend to deliver lectures, but as q Methodist,
talking to his brothers, no would toll us some
thing about the inside. workings of the police
force. He then went on to describe how things
struck him:when he fret entered the service as
q Police Commissioner. Mr.. Moss said that
before he was appointed a Commissioner he
bad an idea that the efforts Of DR.. Parkhurst
had been the means Of purifying the Police De-
partment 30 that very little was left to make It
q perfect organization. As Q result of tho
Lexow investigation ~ofloero high in the do.
partment had boon removed from thoir places.
The impression had Gone forth that the Police
Department had been entirely reformed.
But Mr.. Moss was amazed when he entered
upon the duties OF his Office to find that things
were Just about as bad as over. All the efforts
S Sctu nli ra aeannSfss vent aea 0'S Ths %ss wsse S soo sar oa 4
GERS and good men in the department before
the Lexow lnvestigation and thero were stnl
There were also good Captains and Sergeants,
but he was grieved to say that practically tho
same evils which existed before the ventilation
by pr: Parkhurst were stn rampant.
When l went into the service as q Commits
on the part vt, Of aG The ea oS,c sSrpFii S h III lr sta ,S 9 ie
the police force, but, I was also grieved that
their long training in the service under improper
Some OF the men were moral idlots, and didn't
seem to know the difference between right and
p psSeF; v in'i might %Stn be sn able to ST rem no p tSe%." !h0
Mr.. Moss thought there we're just as many
SSsFpp ah %sr Il ths the "a RSpiiS TSs fGPse ' SitSySa as th iSs
heads were different the force had practically
the same hands to execute orders. The dis
eager now to get under the command Of some
dishonest Captain as ever. lie thought that
fore the Parkhurst and Lexow days still ex-
listed; re WAS amazed at the ignorance which
s Conner and G0s ali o %ReeaLEef ads 10 Of h SSSb aEoqt wPs 1iSfb,
done vol in getting rid Of Coplin: He hoped
u cSlbN NiAilko NhiCA Nv "
peared, to understand what the Commissioner
wanted. The millennium had not yot arrived,
and therefore the best that could be hoped for
would be the enforcement Of the law In u prac-
ticRble way.
When tho police. soon after the Lexow In
vestigation, began to drag disorderly women
through the streets, Haunting vice in the face
had only satisfied the Taste Of the morbid and
scattered the Objectionable women all over
town, where even AN honest police force could
not keep an eye upon them. and where their
presence was q constant menace to the moral
ity OF the neighborhood.
Mr.. Moss hoped that some method would
be devised to prevent wrangling among the
Commissioner themselves. Not until then
could he nope for much improvement in the
force. The shifting Of the Captains recently
begun by Chief McCu!laGh he thought would
be the means Of enabling the Chief to find out
who were worthy and who were not.
At the conclusion Of the meeting nearly every
one OF the 200 ministers present approached
Mr.. Moss and congratulated him. They unan.
imously adopted a resolution congratulating
the citizens in general and the Methodists in
particular that they had a good Methodist at
the ministers expressed their surprise that the
efforts OF DIR. Parkhurst had not made any prac-
teal Improvement, and that the results OF the
Lexow Investigation were equally ~fruitless.