Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-10
MORE POLICE NEEDED
LONG BEATS OF SUBURBAN Pa
TROLMEN.
Proportion of Crimes Committed Out
side the City Limits-Increase In
Detective Force Wanted.

The recent extra ordinary demands made
upon the detective bureau of our police
force by reason Of the commission Of sew
eral high crimes within the limits Of the
District, the perpetrator Of one of which Is
still at large, calls up the number, opera
ton and other features Of this force, and
as corollary the location of these crimes
and the percentage Of those committed
within the thickly settled and the outlying
sections of the District
In discussing the matter this morning a
prominent District official said
Some time ago in advocating the increase
Of our police force The Star editorially in
vited attention to the discrepancy in the
number Of acres covered by an individual
patrolman in the District and in other
cities in proportion to their respective po-
lice forces.
Crimes in the Outlying Sections.
This increase. 1t is confidently hoped
Congress will grant at this session, but
there is another and important reason for
more detectives which may be set at juxta-
position Of The Stars compilation of acre
age covered by single policeman, and
that is the percentage of capital crimes
committed outside of the thickly settled
portions of this city.
During the past year of the capital
crimes committed within the District, Is %
per cent were committed in these sections;
during the year 1901, 40 per cent, while in
1900 the percentage was % Al. The aver
age yearly percentage of crimes thus COM
mitted was % per cent.
1.-The approximate area of the thickly set
tied section of Georgetown is one square
mile, Washington proper eleven square
miles, and of the county ffty-eight square
miles The patrolmen Of the force, that u.s.
privates doing patrol duty. are assigned to
Georgetown. and So to the county.
The city. in which | include George
town, therefore. gets 81 per cent of
the patrolmen Of the force, and the
county but about II per cent, the
difference being made up of police officers
doing other duty except patrol duty. With
the percentage of crime in the outlying sec
tons % per cent, and the patrol force but
II per cent, offers cogent reason for a
general Increase of the police force and a
specific reason for the increase in the num-
Der of policemen assigned to outside beats.
To keep up fair average number of pa
trolmen in the outlying sections of the Dis
trict with the percentage Of capital crimes
committed therein. there ought to be at
least double the number of patrolmen so
assigned. Because of the great extent of
territory in the outlying sections and the
long and scattered beats OF the men, crimi-
police, while this advantage on the part Of
the criminal would be greatly reduced were
the beats curtailed by the addition of more
men.
with the present undersiZe of the force
the department. does not feel justified in
taking more men away from the center of
the city and assigning them to outside duty
AS has often been correctly stated in The
Star. the business sections and the closely
built up residential quarters of the city
must be as fully protected by patrolmen as
the limits Of the force allow, but the de-
partment cannot. of course have one pa
trolman in two different sections Of the city
at the same time.
1T is felt that the present distribution of
the men Is as equitable as the circuIn-
stances and the force permit, but the fulfill
ty of attempting to cover an expansive ter
ritory with few men and yet have COM
plete Gordon and dragnet through which
criminals cannot escape will become more
apparent when the facts 1 have given you
are fully considered.
LAS to the need of more detectives a sin
gle instance will serve better than many,
and we will take the city Of Detroit which
has very close approximate population to
that Of the District. It's detective force
consists of nineteen men as against but
fourteen men here. and 1t is no reflection
upon the force Of Detroit to say that the
police interests of the capital are more di-
versified and important than in that city,
but Detroit has a heavy percentage more
detectives than the District, while her po-
lice cover but thirty-five acres per man
to eighty-two acres per man in the Dis
trict."