The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-14
Police Patrol Service In
Indianapolis Is Deficient
One Wagon 70 Longer Meets the City Requirements-The Long
III Runs at Present Nece.sitated

THE patrol-wagon service in this
city Is exceedingly small for the
- size of the town. but what it
IEISEVI lacks in magnitude it makes up
- in work. Tho fact is. the work
has increased TO such an extent that some
means must be provided to lessen 1t. Po-
lice superintendent Kruger fully realizes
this, and TO remedy 1t 10 an extent has or
dered that all arrests made in the suburbs,
where the prisoners show no tendencies TO
fight. be brought I'm on street cars to a rea-
sonable distance from the station. Thus,
as IL IS now, when arrests are made in North
Indianapolis. the prisoners are brought in
by the patrolmen to Sixteenth street and
Senate avenue, those arrested in Brightwood
are taken to the Hillside-avenue engine
house. and people arrested in Haughvllle
are brought In TO Michigan street. This,
however. is very unsatisfactory as 1t takes
the patrolmen away from their districts for
long Intervals.
This arrangement, nevertheless, is the best
that can be made under the circumstances.
II the Board of Safety adopts the plan of
establishing sub-police stations at different
places over the city, which it has been talk
ing Of doing. this will remedy the existing
evil. II the board does not adopt this plan
IL will be necessary for IL to buy another
patrol wagon and put il In service with the
one In present use. This would arrange
things SO that one wagon would always be
in service and IL two calls should come in
at once. as the case often happens, the au-
thorities would be in some sort of shape to
handle them. AS IL is now. p~atrolmen are
often compelled to hold prisoners at the
patrol box waiting for the wagon for more
than two hours. An instance of this kind
happened sometime ago when a call came in
from the Hillside-avenue engine house. The
men on the wagon when they arrive at
their destination call up the police station
by telephone TO find out If any more calls
for the wagon have come In while they are
away. In this particular case they were
told TO go to Michigan street and White
river, which Is on the other side of town
from where they were. They were COM
PEELED 10 take their prisoner clear across
town and the p%atrolman at Michigan street
had to wait an hour and a half for the
wagon.
In the patrol wagon service are four men
and four horses. and they change each
month from the day to the night run. Last
month both teams made $50 runs and trav-
eled a distance OF $40 miles, and that is
about an average months work. BY this
IL is easily seen what the travel would
amount to in a year. Taking this as the
average. both teams would cover something
over nine thousand miles during the twelve
months. The men and horses on duty at
night get the most of the work. for last
month they answered 200 calls and travelled
400 miles. while those on duty in the day
had $50 calls and covered $50 miles of street.
LONG RUNS TO BE MADE.
The patrol wagon is a familiar sight to
those who frequent downtown streets, and,
IN fact. is seen so much that the average
citizen thinks that the city has more than
one wagon, and is greatly surprised when
told that a place as large as this has only
one vehicle. which has ID cover the whole
town in bringing in prisoners. The length
of the runs that are made are anywhere
from ten squares to eighty. The record
breaker was made not long ago. when a
fight occurred in North Indianapolis in
which there were several participants. II
occurred during the afternoon, and the
wagon had to travel eighty-four squares
To bring in the prisoners. This. with the
other work that the horses had had that
day, fairly tired them out. and when ii
came time for them to go of duty they were
so nearly worn out that they were hardly
able TO reach their stalls.
One Of the policemen. in speaking of the
work that is required Of the patrol wagon,
said:
W are often criticised by citizens for
not answering calls mOle quickly than we
do Often. as IL is now. a district patrolmau
Il required TO hold a prisoner at the patrol
box for a number of hours waiting for the
wagon Well. all of the bystanders ~criticise
the wagonmen because they do not make
better time. whereas they may have haC
TO go clear TO the other side OF town before
they answered this call. Sometimes | fee
sorry for the horses when these long runs
come in. for under ordinary circumstance
they have enough TO do. Recently there
was a raid made in Norwood, which is
about four miles from here. There was {
wagonload OF prisoners to bring back and
II was all they could TO to get here with
them"
The policemen on the patrol wagon have
their business down TO such a fine point
they can tell at what hours of day an6
night TO expect the calls. About l O'Clock
In the morning there Is always a run OF
two. and about 3 O'Clock the bicycle police
have a call which practically means a run