The herald., 1897-05-19
THE REPORTS
Documents Will Not Be
Made Public
OBJECTIONS ARE STATED
SUPPRESSED BY ONLY A SINGLE
VOTE
And That Cast by the Mayor-Pro-
ceedings Of the Board of Police
Commissioners

At the.meeting of the police commits
/ sioners yesterday morning all the MEM
lbers of the board with the chief and
secretary were in attendance. After a
lengthy executive conference in the
! mayors private office the commissioners
came out and lined up around the table
{. in the meeting room, when the regular
business was proceeded with.
In the matter of making the weekly
reports of the sergeants public, Commits
sioner Wymar stated that after consul
tation a majority of'the, committee to
whom the question had been referred
Thought that the seal OF secrecy should
be removed and the reports given to the
press, 10 they wanted them.
Mayor Snyder strongly opposed MAX
ing these reports public saying that he
old not think it was in the best inter
ests of the discipline ofithe department
to open them up for inspection. IL the
! commission does decidetto make the re-
ports public" said the mayor, Il for
understanding that the entire matter be
given out, including the names OF the re-
Lorting officers
; Commissioner Gibbon thought that
the report of the committee should be
adopted ''The great majority OF the
members of our police force" said he,
..are men of good standing in the COM
munity, to whom the citizens can safely
entrust the protection Of their lives and
property The number of inef1clent
men on the force is only a small
minority, indeed, and the best way OF
getting rid of them is to allow the cit
izens to pass judgment upon them.
"Now if these reports are made
public the good officers have moth
ing to fear, in fact they have everything
to gain by having their records known
They can feel that the public knows what
they are worth and that they do not de-
serve discharge. There are few NAL
contents who stir up all this trouble.
They know that they have no business
on the force"
Mayor Snyder followed, vigorously op-
posing the making of the reports pubic.
From the very nature of these reports
they would arouse criticism, destroy
discipline, and to q, certain extent de-
moraHze the force.
Commissioners McLain and Preuss,
sided with the mayor. No good results,
in their opinion, would follow the making
public of the reports. If, however, they
were to be published, they wanted moth
ing kept back. but the whole matter
opened up and all the names given,
the names of the officers making the re-
ports as we'll as those who have been
reported.
Chief Glass was then called upon for
his views, and proceeded to give them
in very plain language. "Mr. Gibbon
has stated some of the advantages that
might follow the publication of these re-
ports" said the chief, land if they are to
he published in their entirety l don't
think the publication would be produc-
tive of good. On the contrary, if only
such parts are published as have direct
bearing on the subject, some public ben
eft might follow Warming up to his
subject the chief said that there had
been insubordination on the force, some
of it, in his opinion being of the worst
possible chaHacter. 81 understand"
said the chief, that list of twenty
or thirty names of officers has been
circulated about the city by certain
officers with a statement that this list
of men was to be thrown off the force
without a hearing. Now / don't know
whether there ever was such move
contemplated by this commission, but
I do say that at any rate such conduct
is insubordination of a character that
should meet with prompt response at the
hands of the Commission. Politics is the
bane of the Police Commission in any
| city and when officers are permitted by
Police Commissions or Coyncilmen to
appeal privately to them for alleged in
Justice at the hands of their superior
officers, what sort of discipline can be
! maintained?"
Commissioner Gibbon called on the
chief for the names of the officers who
had been circulating the petitions, when
that official stated that he had been told
that there were two or three, but that
Officer Kolle was the only one whose
name he felt justified in giving at this
time.
Commissioner Gibbon then moved that
Kolle be at once suspended and ordered
to appear at once before the board and
answer to the charge of insurbordi-
nation.
All of the other members concurred
with Mr. Gibbon, and joined in request
ing the chief to at once ascertain the
names Of all members of the force who
had been guilty of similar offenses or
in criticising the commissioners and
their superior officers, after which Mr.
Gibbons motion prevailed without a
dissenting vote.
Commissioner Wyman then moved
that all Of the reports Of the police SER
geants be thrown open to press from
January l, 1897. This motion was sec
onded by Commissioner Gibbon, but on
a vote being taken it was defeated by a
vote Of to 2, the mayor, with Messrs.
McLain and Preuss voting against IT,
The question of the reports being dis
posed of, Chief Glass presented a report
against granting of a saloon license to
j. H. Paulin for the Mount Pleasant
hotel, at the northwest corner of Boyle
avenue and First street, This was MI.
Paulin's second application. The report
stated that there was nothing against
the character of the applicant, and it
was believed that he would conduct the
business in an orderly and respectable
manner. But there was strong feeling
among the people of Boyle Heights
section, which was essentially resi-
dence section, and strong protests had
been filed against it,