The San Francisco call., 1897-01-02
Senator Bert Will. Try to
Get Justice for DEE
- TREIJ YES,
Bailfs in Police Courts Earn.
More Than Expert
timer
Detectives. Fees Are the Same as. They
Were. Under the o d Village
Ordinances.


There is considerable interest in police
circles and among local politicians over
some proposed legislation for the good
and welfare OF the department Captain
Lees, Ross Whitaker and others of the
police department feel qNite. sanguine that
something viii be done this year. They
have received encouragement from many
sources particularly from people who did
not previously understand the smalLpay
of certain officers here, as compared with
the pay prevailing in other cities of
America for similar services.
The bifl,that seeks to put the police force
on q. more :. Just basis is in the hands5of
Senator Eugene Bert and will be intro.
duced early IN the session. : 1t seeks to in.
crease the pay of six police captains and
fifteen police detective officers from $125
Ito $50 q month, to increase the salary of
the captain of detectives and of the Chief.
of Police to sum more adequate.
Itis singular anomaly that, under the
70 patchwork system established by the con-
soiidation act, il is possible for an untu-
tored paIrolmen to rise suddenly to posi-
tion more remuneratiYe than that of the,
= captain Of detectives, who gets but $l50:a
month. A lucky patrolman with a pull
NAV become a lieutenant in year or two:
q
old-time rs as have served tor twenty years.
as faithful and competent detectives get.
but $125. -. -.
Another strange inconsistency may be
seen in the police courts, where Judges
without experience may, if elected, get
$4,000. Their clerks get $3.50 month and
their bailiffs $3.50. On the floor Just above
that where the bailiff wields his great
. powers of mind for the good of the body.
polite faithful and tried detective in
charge OF the District Attorneys Office,
gets SIPS The interests he handles are
= second TO none, for the safety of human
life and the protection OF property may
:. depend upon his ability and: attention to
= The bailiff cries, 40 yez o ;.yez!', and
''w1estles with the:' janitors to keep the
: Judges den clean-a service ra ted as worth
S25 per month more than the intricate
labors of the. detective whose, SKILL may.
convict or acquit Durrant. or rid the
. community OF q band OF: garroters and
burglars. The. baihff works Two or three
hours. a day, but the vigilant detective
never sleeps.
In New York there is. a con ntingent fund
for detectives, but there is mo such. fund
here. :.
when I went to New York.on "a big
case" said Appointment detective last
o.. night, :" was treated elegantly by officers
there, bur their bills were allowed out of a.
:: contingent fund: Here if we meet New
. y ork man and aid MIN in a case or Invite
:; him TO dinner it comes out OF our own
funds"
:. The advocates OF the new measure are
=. ready to show that salaries for similar
:. services in the great cities of the country,
:; are from 30 to 200 per cent higher than
those paid here. The Chief of Police, Cap
: tain of Detectives, police ca plains and de-
=. IectiYe officers of San Francisco are to-day
receiving the same salaries they got in
"1861 The new bill proposes to make the
.. salaries a little higher, leaving them still
much lower than the salaries paid else
where