The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-12-21
Roanoke Shoe Co.,
Spot Cash Money Savers.
VERY FINE SHOWING.


To the Editor of The Times: AS it
would probably be of some interest to
the public will give you short account
of the work of the police for the last four
years, including comparison as to the
number of arrests FOR each year and
number of convictions for criminal
ofenses; also showing comparative state
ment of work done by our police and sew
eral other cities
The number Oh arrests in this city. in
Guiding all violations Of city ordinances
and State laws, Is as follows:
Total number, of arrests-ln 1894, 1884;
1895, 1913; 1896, 2,517; 1897, 2,614; total,
10S4S
AS 10 the number of arrests you will
notice that while the number OF arrests
is less the last two years, do not think
that any very great Importance can be
attached to that; as the criminal convic-
tons hav" increased that is the greater
crime, owing to that fact we have not
given much attention to violations of city
ordinances, and rs warrants have not
been issued for violations of c. ty ordi.
nances q great many cases have never
been brought before the court, as it takes
too much time to get them up. We have
had IL grea deal of work to do in The last
two years in collecting license taxes and
dog taxes, when it seems that the officers
should have been doing other work, as
the following will show
Doing business without license and
non-payment of dog taX-1S94, 81; 1895,
30; 1895, 354; 1897, 1876
You will notice that the petit larceny
cases are practically the same for tue
four years, 1894 and 1895, having only
two more convictions than. 1896 and 1897.
do not think as much stealing w, s
done the last two years as the two pre-
ceding years, but were worked closer.
The year 1897, however, is not concluded,
which would add n few more convictions.
The following figures.eXplain:
Criminal convctions-1S94, convicted
of petit larceny 80; 1895, ST. 1876, 10:
1897, CO; total, 2SS.
You will see an increase in convictions
for felony or peniteDtary oifcnsrs FOR
1877; 1871, 1895 and 1896 are practically
the same. 1t doesn't occur to ne that
1897 has been year of crime in our city.
Notwithstanding the MANY convictions.
One reason cOnltLg,c is that the force
Is very efficient in detective work If YOU
viii pardon me for making such an as.
sertion.l will cav that do not think any
police force in this country is more e feet
i've in this branch saof police work than
ours. Besides, we have AN able ana Wig
orous prosecutor in Mr.. Lyle, our com
monwealth attorney. One of our most
special efforts has been to break up the
re bling of drunken men as well as other
persons. and you can see how well we
nave succeeded by the following state
ment
Convicted of following crimes-House
breaking and larceny, 2l; assault with
deadly weapon, 8; rape, |; larceny and
robbery from the person, 6: petit iarcepv.
third ohense, D: grand larceny, $: morse
stealing, =; wife murder, l jail breaking.
l; forgery, |,
The following figures show COMPARE
tive statement as TO convictions:
Sent to penitentiary-1S9 ii; 1895.
IL; 1896, IA; 1897, 90; total, 60.
We have only had two murders and one
accidental killing in the last four wears.
all colored, which speaks we'll for Roam
oke.
We have not had a safe blown nor any
robberies OF much magnitude. In most
cases-of house breaking we have arrested
and convicted the parties and recovered
a part or all of the goods ;ye have q
great deal of stealing, such AS stealing
brass and lead from vacant houses.
chicken stealing, etc., which could not be
avoided with the small force, HAVING mo
secret service men or fund to assist us.
will submit statement showing the
average number OF arrests in Roanoke
and several other cities, which shows that
the Roanoke force does more work than
that OF other cities per--man. will call
your attention to the difference In Roam
oKe and Lynchbnrg, two cities with about
the same population. While Lynchburg
is more thickly settled and easier to po-
lice. they have eighteen patrolmen to our
twelve, and we do practically the same
work. Lynchburg has one of the very
best forces in the South. The general
rule is to have one patrolman TO one
thousand inhabitants. We should have
not less than twenty men for that
purpose. The presence of an officer will
prevent many cases of crime and disor-
der The police court should never he
used as source of revenue. That is not
The proper place 30 make money.
Average number OF arrests for each
patrolman in several cities: Washington,
d. c., patrolmen. 300; arrests, Al. AT.
lanta, Ga, patrolmen, 1877; arrests, 104.
Richmond, Va, patromen, 70; arrests,
10. Chattanooga, Tenn, .patrolr:en. 81;
arrests, l6G. Lynchburp. patrolmen, Is;
arrests. l66. Roanoke, Va, patrolmep,
-; arrests, 300. All of which is resaect-
'nlly submitted for the consideration of
he DeOulp nf Ron oule