Evening star., 1901-08-01
PREVENTION OF CRIME
VIEWS OF POLICE CHIEF MURPHY
OF JERSEY CITY.
An Address Delivered at Recent Meet
ing of Association In New
York.

l. At the recent meeting of the police chiefs
of the United States and Canada, held In
New York, Benjamin Murphy, chief OF po-
lice of Jersey City. read an interesting pa
per- his subject being "the prevention OF
crime the principal duty of policemen He
read one of the oldest rules in the manual
which says: THE absence of crime is the
best evidence of the efficiency of the police
ITO be sure he said, mo fair mined per-
son expects the police to entirely suppress
1 crime, for it has existed since the world
began, and it is safe to say there will be
wrong doing to the end Of time. 1t is the
duty of the police to keep the criminal
classes under such strict surveillance that
| It will be difficult for them to commit crime
| and avoid arrest and punishment. "A
| knowledge of a certainty of punishment Tor
violating the law has wholesome re-
| straint upon the community at large and
| forces the criminals to behave themselves,
| thus very materially aiding the police In
the line of their duty. The criminal classes
| are the natural enemies of the police, and
| of society They devote their time in
studying how they can thwart the police
| in their efforts to suppress crime; 1t is
therefore our duty as police commanders
| to devise plans to successfully meet all
/ new schemes and devices thought out by
law breakers. The old threadbare saying
! that it takes a thief to catch thief is
/
! The police commander who is a success Is
| he who from years of experience has be-
| come familiar with the habits and work.
| ings of all classes of criminals and who is
fortunate in being backed up by his su-
periors in his efforts to protect life and
| property and enforce laws in his jurisdic-
| ton.
Organization Necessary.
| To prevent crime police force must be
| thoroughly organized, well uniformed and
Gn1
| with all modern electrical appliances. Pa
| troll wagons should be attached to each
station, ready as fire apparatuses are to
move out at a moments notice on call
from signal station. Patrolmen should be
carefully instructed how to patrol their
| posts so 1t Will be difficult for criminals
to operate without being detected. When
a patrolman answers return roll call with
a knowledge that no crime was committed
during his tour, he is commendedsfor doing
all that is expected of him.
Policemen should be men of good char
acter, mentally and physically of high
standing. Superior officers should come up
from the ranks for merit only and be re-
quired to possess a knowledge of criminal
law and it's procedure. With such police
force crime would be scarce and life and
property well taken care of.
Next to the prevention Of crime 1t is the
duty OF the police to secure proper evidence
to convict those guilty of crime, for should
criminals know that the work of the police
ton house, bad state of affairs would in
deed exist. AS you gentlemen know, 1t is
after the arrest, in many cases, that the
ability of the police is put to the test Old
offenders do not often tell on themselves
and unfortunately, very often citizens who
can give evidence are apt to keep away
from the police to avoid annoyance. From
the moment a person is taken into custody
for high misdemeanor the arrestng off,
Ger should take notice of. all the prisoner
says and does while on the way to the sta
i'm orriH th1~a =,
| oner should be carefully searched and
everything taken from him that might be
of use for the prosecution. Papers and
weapons should be marked for Identified
ton by the arresting officer. The prisoner
should then be taken to private room and
a superior officer proceed to take a written
statement from him.
Warning Should He Given.
''The prisoner should first be warned that
| what he says must be voluntary and of his
own free will, that 1t will be taken down in
writing and will be read over to him when
complete and used at his trial on the
charge for which he is in arrest This
| statement should be taken down in the
| presence of one or more witnesses and be
signed by the prisoner, after which 1t
should be sent to the prosecuting attorney.
After such a caution every effort and
means permitted by law should be resorted
to to get evidence against the accused. No
police officer need fear that he will get
into trouble for his efforts to get con-
| fessions from persons guilty of crime. 1t
is his duty to do it, and SO long as he con-
fines himself to the requirements of the
law in such cases he need not mind what
criminal lawyer may say at the trial. In
my service of twenty-eight years l have
never known person not guilty of crime
to incriminate himself by anything he
might say; on the contrary, l do know
that very few are convicted of serious
crime where police officials are Indifferent
or negligent In getting statements from the
accused when they are first arrested Grim
inals do not commit crime in the presence
of witnesses if they can avoid it. and there
fore 1t Is our duty to get admissions from
them if we can do so.
Witnesses in all high crimes should be
brought to the station house as soon as
possible after the commission of crime, and
their evidence taken down in writing so
they may be more apt to testify to 1t at the
trial Too many guilty persons escape con-
vlction and punishment for their crimes py
lack of energy when crime is first reported.
Promptness Of action by the police is in
Variably crowned with success"