The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-03-09
POLICE STATION BoTCH
MANY COMPLAINTS MADE AGAINST
THE NEW BUILDING.
Department to Be Moved from Tenn
2Orary Quarters TO-Day-POOr
Sanitary Arrangements.

The last roll call in the temporary quar-
ters of the police department will be made
at o'clock this morning, when the day
force goes on duty Immediately afterward
the work Of moving the department to the
new city building on the site of the old po-
lice station will begin. There is not much
to move, as the new building has been fur
nished throughout. The records and ac-
cumulated stolen property will be the chief
articles to be transferred from building to
building.
BY night the transfer will be made, and
the night force will meet for roll call in
the new assembly room. 1t is not probable
that prisoners will be received at the new
place for day or two as the cells have
not yet been put in order for the reception
Of prisoners. The stables are not quite
ready for the horses and patrol wagons, but
will be in short time. A new cement floor
has been laid in the court yard through
which the wagon is to drive in unloading
prisoners This was finished only yester-
day, and will require several days to
harden
The business of the department will, how
ever, be carried on from the new building
this afternoon. The assembly room is
reached from the main entrance to the
the corridor of the part of the building de-
voted to the police department. The first
door to the left entering the police de-
partment corridor from Alabama street is
to be occupied by the captains and the
superintendent clerk 1t will be the room
through which persons wishing to see the
superintendent must pass, and those whose
business is such as can be attended to by
either the clerk or the captin in charge
will get no further than the outer office.
Some will not get that far, for there is to
be desk placed in the corridor few feet
from the entrance. This will be for
sergeant, whose business it will be to meet
all persons and ascertain their business.
Ordinary complaints can be attended to by
him.
The turkeys office will be on the second
floor back, near the mems prison on the
south side. In the same relative position,
but on the north side, near the women's
prison, will be the matronS quarters. The
bicycle patrolmen will have a room in the
stable. There will be in use a system of
telephones by which all parts of the build
ing will be in communication with the 9TH
ers. AS far as the police are concerned, the
cramped. Those who have visited the sta
ton are impressed by the want of fore
thought and negligence of sanitary condi-
tons exhibited in it's construction. Perhaps
the worst condition exists in the prison de-
partment, where there is little or no method
of ventilation. One of the worst features of
the old police station was the lack of VEN
tllation in the prison end of the building.
doors arising from the cells each morning
were almost overpowering. Everything indi-
Gates this condition will be duplicated in
the new station
THE STRONGEST PROTESTS.
About the strongest protest comes from
the City Dispensary department, although
there is complaint at the scant space set
aside for the police department. The great
bulk of the building has been given over
to the Police Court. BY a bad lack of man
agement the dormitories of the dispensary
are placed on the third floor. The rooms
that lie directly over the dispensary on the
second floor and that might have been de-
voted to the interneS' rooms, are taken up
with the rooms for the Bertillon system,
which has a half dozen rooms at its dis
posal. The result is that interneS have to
climb an almost interminable flight of
stairs to get to their quarters at night. This
makes it unpleasant, as it is frequently
necessary for them to make many trips to
the dispensary rooms at night There is no
emergency hospital, a feature that was
earnestly advocated by the former superin-
tendent. Now If man is hurt almost to
death, he must be taken a long distance to
one of the hospitals. Conditions in the Of
iCSS TSSSTNSu lOr the ponce are Out lltIiS
better. The superintendent, detectives and
captains are crowded into few small Of
fees, while much valuable space above
them is spread out for Police Court pur-
poses. On the third floor there are many
large rooms that are Of practically no value
at all. The station could easily have been
much better and more economically ar
ranged than it is. So far but few officials
of the city have been installed in their
quarters, and it is apparent that when they
get settled the grumblings will be much
more pronounced than now. AS an illustra-
ton, it might be mentioned that there is
absolutely no way of communicating from
the dispensary department with the police,
except by going around the building. To
reach the morgue, internes must crawl
down an alley, or go through the roll-call
and other police rooms by an out-of-the-
way route. Some of the police officials pri-
vately express the opinion that the new
station is an architectural botch.