Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1906-11-02
DOGS TO AID POLICE.
~RiME-RlODEN CHICAGO CONSiD,
ERING THE IDEA.
"eiie'cs They woulI Drive Out
h"id-Up Men-CoSt Five Cent. a
Day-SucccSsfulIy Employed in
Europe.

>hlCaSo correspondence:
The use of dogs to rid Chicago of hold
up men and Of the creatures who terrify
ana STAY helpless women is the sugges-
ION put forth by Capt. 2. d. O'Brien,
mead of the city detective bureau. In it
many persons see a possible solution of
lhe p~uzzling problem, how to get rid of
IN desperadoes who are Il menace to life
and property in the city. 1t has there
fore met with popular favor and the city
officials are being urged at least to ex-
peril ant with, if not adopt it. The adop-
ton of the plan would serve the double
purpose of atfording protection and rid
ding the community of a growing nui-
sance. Besides, Capt. O'Brien believes
it would check graft on the force.
The experience of Client, Antwerp,
Paris and other cities proves that dogs
thus employed would cost the city only
five cents each per day. For the reSu-
lar night patrOlman's work Capt. O'Bricu
would have the best Belgian sheep dogs,
RiardS and G~rocnnedaels, while st. Der
nurds would be used as life savers along
the lake and river and in the parks, and
the bloodhounds would constitute the de-
tective force, to be used in trailing down
criminals after a crime is committed.
Capt. OBrien'S scheme is not Il theory,
nor does he claim any credit for original
ity in it. He simply has made a study of
the methods Of the French, German and
Belgian police dogs, and he believes that,
sooner or later, Chicago will adopt the
system and train dogs to be the COmpan-
ions and assistants Of the night pNtrolmen
and the night squadron of detectives.
From an experiment attempted by the
/ r = 49, 6
Client, the use of dogs was proved success
fui. Thereafter dogs were trained and
added to the force until now every patrol
man in the outlying districts of the city,
or in the dangerous districts, is accom-
panied by a dog, and the results SO as
founded the police students in Europe
that the idea has been adopted in dozens
of cities. According to the reports of the
municipalities of Belgium Il trained dog,
accompanied by a p]atrolman, accomplishcs
the work of two ordinary patrolmen-
and he and his master can do the work
and cover the ground thoroughly-more
thoroughly than four men alone could
cover it.
Freed of Thieves.
SO successful was the experiment il
Client that, within a few months after
the addition of dogs to the force, the
thieves and criminals, after trying des-
p~erately to poison or otherwise kill the
police dogs, gave up the efforts. The
city now is declared to be clearer of crime
than my city of its size in the world, and
the arrest record shows that, with trained
dogs, a patrolman can make captures
which otherwise might cause need for a
dozen men.
"Chicago,' said one student of Euro
pcan police methods. who is enthusiastic
in his support of Capt. O'Brien's idea,
could adopt the Belgian dog police idea
with better effect than any big city in
the world. The wide spread of the city,
its great open spaces, the huge territory
which makes it practically impossible for
the present force to cover it thoroughly,
the great railway yards, the docks and
such places should be made safe by the
use of dogs. In Antwerp, where l saw
the dogs used, the idea came to me that
dogs would solve Chicago's police prob
lem better and cheaper than anything
else. We nave in Chicago more dogs than
any city in the world, not excepting Con-
stantinople, where they are used as scav-
engers, and most of them are useless and
dangerous"
Would Keep Out Crooks.
THE fact that dogs were on the force"
says Capt. O'Brien, would have a big
effect on crooks and criminals of all