Evening star., 1897-01-02
Arrestins Petty Thieves.

Arresting Petty Thieves.
1t frequently happens that men employed
in this capacity apprehend petty thieves
and shoplfters and turn them loose after
giving them bad scare. Only few days
ago in big business house two school
girls were apprehended in this way. To
have taken them into court would have
wrecked their lives, and so the proprietor of
the store forgave them, and they were re-
leased after making q solemn promise that
their offense would not be repeated. Men
employed in this way work on specified
salary, while the street men get only what
they are sble to collect from those who live
on their beats. In the business sections of
the city the special policeman who has a
good beat gets as high as 500 a month,
and some in the residence sections man
age to get as much as $50 month The
man selects his beat of several squares, rs
much as lie thinks he can properly pro-
tect, and then makes a house-to-house visit
to see who will pay him for his services.
His charges as rule are made according
to the size of his beat and the number Of
his patrons. as well, perhaps, as in accord
ance with the means of the householder
In sonae sections there is charge of 25
cents week made for each house, while
IN some other sections the charges will run
as much as II for each house. Years ago
the specials collected considerably more
money than they do now, SC it is said, and
for this reason a number of them have
emily surrendered their commissions.
Regular VS.. Special.
At police headquarters. it is said, some
of these specials have done and are still
doing good work, while, on the other hand
some of them are really worthless AS q
rule the regular officers do not put much
faith in the ability or sincerity of the spe-
cial, and al times some of the police Off
cials have thought that commissions should
not be granted 20 men not regularly paid
by the District. While the specials are
accountable to some extent to the police
department for their actions, they do not
nave to make the hourly calls on their
beats, as the regulars do, nor are they in
dread of being caught "hoodling," as the
police term loafng while on duty. They
are not under the necessity to be on the
lookout for the sergeant or the night in
spector, ard if, perchance one should be
quietly sleeping in some doorway when
the sergeant blows his whistle, 1t is not
necessary for him to make answer. The
special who attends strictly to his duties
tries the doors and windows of the houses
OF his patrons during the night, to see
that they are secure against the invasion
of burglars. This. of course, applies to
the back gates, as well as to the front
doors. Besides looking for burglars, they
are supposed TO be on the lookout for fire,
and in many instances valuable property
has been saved by them. At times there
has been considerable rivalry between the
specials and regulars as to who discovered
a particular fire and reached the fire-alarm
box first.
Making Business.
But, according to the statements made in
police circles, there. is more than one side
to the lives of many of those who have
from time to time, figured as members of
this band of police auxiiaries. These men,
like men in other walks of life, have found
it necessary to make business for them
selves, and, as the story goes, thefts have
teen committed and the plunder hidden for
no purpose other than to impress upon the
property holders the necessity for the en-
ployment of some one to protect their prop
erty- In one case it was reported that
where 81 householder declined to employ
the services of a special big vase that
vas at the front door of the house imme-
diately disappeared. Some of these men
have resorted to other means in order to
procure a few dollars. There was time
when two specials who did duty on ad-
joining beats operated system of making
arrests and then holding court. One of
them, it was said, would make an arrest
for some trifiing offense and would go with
his victim as far as the next mans beat
Special No. would then take him. as the
victim supposed, for the purpose of landing
him In the police station, but instead of
this he would compromise for a small
amount, and would release his prisoner
Just how long this business was kept up is
not known, nor is it known how much
money they collected in this way But as
already stated, there are many honorable
nen among them, and some of them have
been doing this kind of duty for years.