Omaha daily bee., 1902-10-28
HOURS FOR POLICEMEN
Commissioner Aos on Chiefs Recommends
ton to Change Working Time
no CUT MADE IN FIRE DEPARTMENT YET
Board Receives Long Communication
from chief saIter and Appoints
Committee TO Confer with
City Council.

Upon the urgent request Of Chief Of Po-
lice Donahue. the Board Of Fire and Po-
lice Commissioner last night accepted the
eight-hour rule for the patroimen Of the
police department. and as soon as the
change can be effected the officers who
walk beats VIII be divided into three shifts
of eight hours each instead Of two Of
twelve hours each. The resolution Of the
board, I'm which the change is provided
for Is as follows:
Resolved. That the twelve-hour shift nov
In force In the police department Is a hard.
ship upon the patrolmen ana not proauc,
tivesof the best results and be II resolved
that the eight-hour shift, as recommended
by the chief Of police. for the patrolmen
OF the police department be and hereby Is
adopted TO take effect as soon as II can be
put into operation by the chief; and be II
further resolved, that all the other Officers
OF the police department be allowed two
daf4 on duty In each month with pay, ef-
feetlye on the same date.
.Tae board was moved to this action by
a long Communication from Chief Donahue.
in which he set forth the advantages and
disadvantages Of the proposed change. In
this Communication the chief FIRST sets
forth as an important consideration the
fact that under the present system Of
twelve-hour details Of enforced exposure
to all conditions Of weather, the health
VI u ANIADGlb vi NhG HuGBaI NN1GhN ma
terially suffers and submits that the rec
ofds will e~ubstantiate the statement that
from Z to 9 per cent Of the time lost by
the oficers through illness is directly due
to that cause,
VIII save Meal Time.
As another important argument in favor
Of the change he presents for considera-
tion a statement Of the time consumed
by the men under the twelve-hour sys-
ssm IN getting their necessary meals, and
BY comparison shows that their time on
duty under the eight-hour system could
be SO arranged as to save a great deal OF
the time now allowed for meals.
Under the plan as suggested by the chief
the first detail will report at the station
ut 7:fb q M, and respond to roll call and
20 to their beats at 7:45. and remain on
duty until 4 D. m; the second detail will
report at the station at 3:15 p. m, and 90
On duty at 3:l5; and the third detail will
report at 11:15 p. nn..' and so on duty at
Has. Tue second detail, he says will
cover the hours OF greatest necessity for
police sctivity and must therefore be the
largest apd the other two. covering hours
Of comparative quiet, may be more easily
provided for.
The chief would have the eight-hour
system apply. however, only to the men
who walk beats and would have the cap
tafns. chief Of detectives. sergeants. detec-
tives. deck sergeants. turkeys. patrol
wagon crews and emergency onhcers re-
main under the present system.
On FiFe Department Reduction.
The chief of the Gre department. In
compliance with Instructions from the
board at It's meeting Of last Monday night,
submitted q report in contemplation Of the
proposition to cut down the fire Depart
ment.
The chief in this report vigorously pro-
claims the danger which any reduction Of
the present strength of the department
would entail, ana as far as his position in
relation to the board earnestly protests
against any such action. The report is a.
follows;
This department has been trying for sew
eral years to Increase the fire department
so as to properly protect this city in case
OF FIRE, and In my last annual report you
VIII md that l recommended several new
houses and also new companies IN different
parts of the city. l therefore fail to see
how any of these houses can be closed and
As for taking sixty men from thi" depart.
ment, II is utterly out OF the question, for
The business portion has not now the fire
protection II needs, and to take any OF the
companies from the center would leave Il
open to a large fire or ~conhagration which
would cost this city many thousands OF dol
lars. AZ to. the residence portion, l will say
that our houses now are too far apart and
too Few to properly protect same. COM
panies now are running some two or three
miles before the fires are reached and that,
too. in thickly inhabited portions OF the
compel the downtown companies to respond
to- all alarms, thereby leaving the center
what Might ne Done.
Again. large fires require a large number
or men, apparatus and hose to put the fire
out. and also to protect surrounding prop
will not only endanger the locality where
the house is located, but the whole city.
Under these circumstances I would recon-
mend that the board do everything In its
power, TO get money enough to carry this
department TO the end OF the year. But II
TO be closed. I would recommend that they
be closed and reduced as follows:
Then follows a list IN which the houses
named to be closed are Engine company No.
4, with nine men; Hose companies Nos. 5.
Z, 8, 3, 10. and IL, with six men each, and
hook and ladder company NO 4. with eight
men. The companies named TO be reduced
one man each are engine companies Nos. /.
2 and Q. and hook and ladder companies Nos.
?, 5 and 5. II is recommended that hook
and ladder company No. /. with twelve men,
- left as II is.
The closing OF the houses designated and
reduction OF the others as above stated
would cut down the force 50 men, and Of