Waterbury Democrat., 1901-03-20
BOARD OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Hours of Policemen Will Not Be h.
 creased at Present.

Hours of Policemen Will Not Be h. creased at Present.
 After approving of the payrolls of the fire and police departments, the | board of public safety, at its meeting held last evening, buckfed into the rules and regulations drawn up by Chief of Police Egan, and under which the police have been working for the past few days. The chief rule | of the new set has in creased the working hours of the policemen, notwithstanding that the police force has been increased by four men during the past few weeks. Hard | Iy anyone in the city could see the con- sistency of this step, at least the board of public safety could not, and knocked out that rule last evening.
 The rule in question would have the men work from z D. m. to , a. m. Hitherto they have worked from ' ?. m. to a. III. Commissioner Hull asked if the extra hour was absolute
 ly necessary on the night beats. The | chief replied that it was absolutely necessary. He saw no way to avoid it. It devolved upon him to police the city every day and night in the year | | shop one day or night The men are allowed enc hour. he said when they 1 report. Commissioner Knox asked if , the extension of beats was necessary now in remote parts. The chief replied 1 that the men are not expected to re- | main, or give all the time in the re- | mote parts of their beats. Though the men go on at different hours, they all work the same length of time The chief then explained when some men go on at various hours. The obiec- tiOn was that men who go on at in the evening should not be kept on till , next morning. The mayor thought the chief ought to prepare a more equitable schedule, so that this extra | hour would not be necessary. The chief did not see how it could be done
 Between and S o'clock in the even- 1 ing is one of the most important hours in the twenty-fonr. ill police circles.
 The mayor replied that he did not see | the consistency of increasing the hours
 of work and also increasing the force at the same time. He asked. ought 1 it to have been done? If the force was decreased. then he could see the 1 probable necessity of increasing the i working hours of the men in order to make the force efficient. but in view of the force being increased. he did not see the necessity of increasing the working hours. Such a step looked | like a contradiction.
 The chief answered that it was not to the heightened time the men ob- 1 iected; it was to breaking them uD They have been accustomed to work
 ing in pairs, and the new rules sepa-
 rated many old mates: he did not
 think it proper to put the new men
 working together. Another thing.
 though the men about the center work
 longer than those in the remote parts
 the former do not object, because the i time passes quicker.
 | Commissioner n. Foley moved the
 adoption of the rules with the exceD-
 tion of the one under discussion. On
 that point he favored going back to
 the old rule. That is. men begin work
 at D. m. and quit work at 4 q. m
 Commissioner E. Foley said he could
 not conscientiouSly vote for the mo-
 tion. The mayor asked the chief q | question, to which the answer was
 that the chief individually had no in
 terest in the matter. He did not like
 the idea of relieving men from duty
 at in the morning and at the same
 time bear the responsibility of proper-
 ly policing the city The motion was
 repeated and the vote stood two and
 two. Commissioner Kleinecke was
 absent, so the mayor cast the deciding
 vote in favor of the motion. All the
 other new rules were then adopted.
 This motion will affect twelve men,
 It was voted to have 100 copies of the
 new rules printed for the use of the
 policemen.
 
 election of patrolman to complete
 the complement allowed by the board
 of aldermen, five. Commissioner F. Foley voted against the motion. Com missioner D. Foley was silent and Commissioner Hull voted for it. The
 vote being tie. the mayor voted for the motion. There was only one bal
 lot cast and that showed as follows:
 One vote for Samuel c. Walsh. one for John Bowling. one for Peter Lecour and one blank
 It was voted to carry James R . Walker, of the chemical engine com ; pany. on the pay rolls, he having hurt i, himself in the performance of duty ,, last week. An application for appoint ment as callman was received from , Martin Connor. Itwas ordered filed , Fireman Robert Woiff's bill for wages was referred back to htm. with the :, privilege of withdrawing 1t. Wolff . while alighting from the exercise wae ' on on East Main street on February { of last year, fell and broke his right ankle: he was laid up fifteen weeks His fellow wOrkmen threw in theil z days off, making up few weeks | wages for him. He claimed to have been going to breakfast when the acci dent occurred. and was on the exer
 else wagon by order of Captain Dolds : There appeared to be some misunder ) standing about this alleged order, anC the consequence was the above mo l tion to withdraw the bill Commis [ sioner E. Foley made the motion ant :. it was seconded by Commissioner Hull l A few other items of minor bushes.