Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-04
PROTECTING SOCIETY
VIEWS OF CHIEF OF POLICE WILL
LIAMs OF COLUMBUS, GA.
Says That Not More Than Ten Per
Cent of the Felons Es-
cape Arrest.

At the recent annual convention of the
International Association of Chiefs of Po-
lice. held at Hot Springs. Ark. Wiley Will
u6ms, chief of police of Columbus, Ga.
read paper with the protection of society
as his theme. He said that in the year
1900 there were III hangings In the United
States and that during that period more
than 5000 homicides and suicides were
noted. and the ratio has not changed much
since then. The paper. in part, follows:
Attention precedes detection, detection
precedes detention. and detention precedes
protection. That is to say, the police Off
Ger must give attention before he can de-
tect the criminal: he must detect him be-
fore he can be detained, and he must be
detained before society be protected.
These four words-attenton, detection.
detention, Observation-Disclosures in a spccinct
way what we may term the cardinal. pro-
gressive and logical duties of the police
officer. With the arrest and with the pro-
curing of evidence for the prosecution. the
duties of the police department are at an
end. After twelve years of experience
chief of police it is my opinion that not
more than 10 per cent of the felons escape
arrest. The principal reason why society
is not better protected then must exist
somewhere else other than in the failure
to make arrests.
Society is not protected because the
criminals are not speedily tried and con-
victed Those who are responsible for
this state of affairs are the criminal law
yers and the petit juries. The lawyer who
is not interested so much in his client hav-
Ing a fair trial he is in the acquittal
of the criminal-by unfair means and often
by illegal and unprofessionable practices
is himself more of criminal than he is
q lawyer. and he is very properly called
a criminal lawyer. The petit juries of our
country seem never to have learned the
truth contained in Robert E. Lees famous
G " iS thp liy,1pc In bn
English language The so-called legal trial
which Is In reality an Illegal farce, Is
menace to society and a disgrace to civil
tzation. The statute law of Georgia pro-
vides that all jurors shall be intelligent.
experienced and upright / presume the
law in all of the states is practically the
same
Exceedingly Lax.
The jury commissioners are exceedingly
lax In the enforcement of this wise provis-
ion of the law. large per cent of the
men whose names are placed in the boxes
from which jurors are drawn are not in
telligent or experienced, or upright From
such a class of jurors no one can expect
the criminals to be convicted. Courts
criminal lawyers and jurors should renem-
Der that justice properly administered pro-
duces peace quiet, order and happiness
in all communities. states and kingdoms.
The rule justice Is applicable to all alike"
In this connection the speaker quoted
from an address by DR.. Andrew D. White
on High Crime in the United States"
one of our Georgia judges declared from
the bench some months ago that more
homicldes were committed in that state than
In the whole British empire" the speaker
went on to say. In Georgia one person in
a hundred Is convicted and punished and
this will apply TO other states while in
England one in three Is made to suffer.
LawleSsnesS Is not confined to the south.
Some time ago. United States Judge
Thomas Jones of Montgomery, Ala, in a
charge to the grand jury, called attention
to the fact that the number of homicides
In the United States for three years was
orc-third larger than either the total num-
Der of persons killed upon the American
railroads in the same period or the total
losses of the British army in the Boer war
Facts Are Alarming.
Tho facts stated are alarming and such
a state of affairs will continue to exist
until the law is enforced. and the courts
and juries do their duty, and our people
will have no respect for the law, or fear OF
the law. until it is enforced.
From the facts stated 1t would seem that
Uncle Sam is a diaboical murderer an in
corrigible criminal arch-fiend.
This much may be said in our behalf
the United States is the dumping ground
for the criminal classes of all countries and
a large per cent of the high crimes COM
mitted in the eastern, northwestern and
western portions of our country are COM
mitted by the foreign criminal element
'In the south. very few high crimes COM
paratively are committed by the white citi-
zens and this. 1 think is largely due to
the absence of the foreign element. Less
than l per cent of the population of the
south is of foreign birth, and the few for
eigners who do. reside in the south are. for
the most part, drst-Giass citizens in every
RESPECT
I'm conclusion, permit ne 10 say that
when we learn that liberty is not license:
that justice must precede mercy. and that
the will of the people is the law and not
the will of the individual, then, and not till
then. will society be protected"