The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-01-27
WORK Of POLICE.
Chief Murphy's Annual Re
port Tells What His
Men Have Done for
the Year.
GREEN GOODS DRIVEN OUT
At Least twenty-five More
Policemen Needed to
Protect the City.

Chief of Police Murphy will submit his
annual report to the Police Commission
ers this afternoon. 1t contains many i'm
portant statements. OF gambling in Jer-
sey City, Chief Murphy, sa~ys:-"There is
no public gambling in this city, policy
playing and selling pools on horse racing
is INDUCED in by those who are SO adj
dicted to these kinds of gambling that
they will take any KIND of a chance to
satisfy their desires: the hackers of these
games conduct their business so that it
is quite difficult to get proper evidence
against tahem. A number of saloon
keepers nave been arrested for permitting
slot machines in their places, and as none
of them was convicted we have adopted
the salutary method of Selling the
machine and destroying 1t.
ssThere have been fifty-nine arrests for
gambling and keeping resorts for gam
bling during the year and thirty-hve tor
playing pool on Sunday.
OF the green goods business Chief Muir
ply says
For some years back our city has been
free from the stigma of the reputation
of being a green goods city, but about
the latter part of September thousands
of green goods letters were mailed from
Jersey City, asking intended victims OF
this old game to telegraph by the West
ern Union Telegraph Company to fct1-
tious names and addresses in this city,
thereby advertising our city as a place
where this swindle can be perpetrated,
when as a matter of fact these de-
spatches were forwarded to other places
by the manager of the said telegraph
company, and there delivered to green
goods operators, who arranged to meet
the dishonest .countryman when he
came on to buy what he expected to
be counterfeit money. When the coun-
tryman forms the acquaintance of the
sharpers he then knows that he was not
swindled in Jersey City, but, as victims
rarely tell of their trips to buy green
goods. very few but themselves know OF
it, and as fully ninety-eight per cent. of
those who get letters from these swim
dlers never reply. it is to be presumed
that they believe this city to be the
place where the swindlers held forth.
"In the interest of the good lame of our
city I procured evidence upon which an
Indictment was found by the Grand Jury
against the Western Union Telegraph
Company and its manage in this city for
aiding and abetting green goods swindlers.
In 1894 / took similar action against this
same manager, which caused a present.
ment to be made .yhieh charged him with
being an accomplice of a gang of green
! goods men operating here, the result of
| which was to put them out of business in
this city,
A portiap nf tho rannrf m the detective
force is of Interest,"
This branch of the service requires
peculiar talent to be efficient as a detec-
tive, should in the first place be healthy,
| because HI is apt to be called upon. to
endure all kind of weather and loss of
proper rest: he should be an intelligent,
up-to-date man, capable of adapting him
self to any condition of society; he should
have a good memory and make friends
with everybody he thinks may be of use
to him.. particularly newsboys, bootblacks,
hack drivers and such people as are on
the street a good deal, and above all he
must be persistent and Industrious. He
must know that the successful detective
is the man who can go out and be
able to find friends in the neighbour
hood where a crime has been
committed who will tell him truthfully
what they know and While I do not be-
lieve it necessary for a detective to make
an associate of thieves, I do think a
detective officer should always be able
| to get information from a criminal to use
| against another criminal. Honor among
thieves exists only in dime novels. A
| detective officer who thinks he must COM
promise himself to get information from
criminals has a lot to learn, thieves and
| others of the criminal classes like to be
on god terms with a detective whom
they think is well posted. No detective
| should ever be afraid or be in a posi-
| ton to be afraid to arrest a criminal on
| account of past favor as a criminal
| gives the most information to the police
officer he Is afraid of; to take a police
of Rr QUIT of uniform and put him at
| detective work unless he is fit for it, is
doing an injury to the service"
The other important portions of the
report are as follows
Since the adoption of the resolution by
your Board requiring all new men to be
| approved of by the Chief before appoint
ment, we have got very much better ma
| terial, as they must be the regulation
height and age and of good character
before going before you gentlemen for
consideration The average age of the
men appointed the past two years is
twenty-six and a fraction. 1t is due to
the service and the taxpayers that men
should not be made policemen who are
over thirty-five years old. Jersey City
should get at least twenty-five years
service from their police officers in con-
sideration of the city taking care of them
when unfit for service.
1.-THE numerical strength of our force is
not sufficient to give proper protection to
our citizens. If the inances of the city
are such as to admit of it, there should,
in my opinion, be twenty-five more pa
trolmen appointed. / would suggest two
more mounted patrolmen, one for the La
fayette portion of the Fourth precinct and
one for the west side of the Third pre-
cinct. | would further suggest the neces
sity of a new home for the Sixth precinct.
The department owns a proper site for
this purpose, and it is hoped you may
soon get an appropriation to erect a suit
able building thereon"