Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-04-12

At yesterdays session Of the oonven-
ton of the American Association Of Chiefs
of Police. in Hot Springs, Ark, Chief Of
Police Black read a paper on the extra
dition offugitives from Justice. He said:
1T may appear TO the members Of this
association that the subject which l have |
taken for discussion is one that should be /
more properly considered by q convention
| of LAWYERS than by an assemblaCe of chiefs /
of police; and in fact a subject which |
could he more intellgently discussed by |
a member of the legal profession than by |
| O man who has made police work his study |
and occupation.
"It is not my purpose 60 consider this |
subject in the broad sense implied by tho
terms which / have used to describe the
title to this paper. The title Uniform
Extradition Laws embraces the relations
of all governments touching the question
of surrendering iugitives from justice by
one government TO another. This. of
course. would be too broad "a question
to be discussed here and is one which does
not. In its broad sense. concern especially
an association of chiefs of police of the
United States. The real subject TO which
wish to direct your attention is the quCs-
tion of the rendition of iugltivos from JUS
tice upon the demand OF the executive
of one of tho States OF this Union upon
the demand of the executive of another
State and TO conine the question to the
several States OF our own country.
"In August, 1887, there was held IN
New York a conference of representatives
of number of the States to consider the
question of interstate rendition and. at
this conference, a number of resolutions
were adopted for the purpose of cstab-
fishing uniform rules upon this question.
This conference was not participated m
by all of the States; IN fact some of the
States which now form part OF the Union
, had not then been admitted. After this
conference a number of the States embod-
led the principles enunciated by these
= resolutions in statutes which were passed
by the Legislatures Of those States, but
= this legislative action was taken only by
- some OF the States
q "The fact that all of the States Of q 2
= Union are comprised within the terri
: torial limits Of that part of North America
which is governed by our great republic
. and are not separated from each other ny
y great distances, either by intervening
"a waters, OF of land belonging to other gov
a ernments; and the fact that many OF ou
a States are Immediately contiguous &c
each other and separated from each othel
20 only by lines marked by artificial monu
is ments, erected by surveyors or otherwise
are all facts which make It easy for {
criminal TO pass from within the limits
Of one State into the boundaries of another
Where such n condition exists the righ
to 90 to that State in which the crimina
~ has taken refurge, and the method o
" going, should not be hedged about Will
u too many restrictions or an endless lengtl
no of red tape II is undoubtedly true tha
n- the government of each separate STAT
"a has imposed upon it the responsibility
uo Of protecting its own citizens not onll
- from the improper conduct of its owl
officers of the law, but especially from
molestation by persons from another gov
eminent, or Jurisdiction, who clsim tn
ne right to take the persons OF its resident
an or the persons within its orders Will
y, these things should not be lost sight OF
50 there remains great force in the observa
~ tion that in a government such as our.
ue composed of n number of sister State'
n all living within the limits Of one grea
re land area, the laws upon the question {
Gu surrendering fugitives from justice shoul
~ not be of such a character as TO make
~ easy to commit crime In one state an
ne flee therefrom into the confines Of anothe
al "Ihe laws upon this question shoul
not only be plain, clear, simple OF operi
ton easy to be set in motion, but the
, should be uniform. There is no concei'
ne able reason why the laws of each one
81 the Of the Union should not
sV- a. identical upon this subiec
"; be imagined but that the II
..eu each State call for exactly I'll
lE cslation upon such a subject {
,h' .he administration Of the variol
tt departments of the States of q
~ United States of course we are all fr
iue quently called upon to arrest persol
within our jurisdiction who are elaine
to be fugitives from justice Of some 9th
A. State Very often, when this occur
Wy questions arise as 10 the sufhciency Of q
as warrants, as to whether or not fugiti'
e1S .:1I warrant must be sworn out in our ov
III Jurisdiction, as TO whether OF not Il
VI, person sought to be arrested can, und
az the law of our own government, be pe
me mitted to 20 voluntarily with an age
ST. OF officer from the State from which
re- fed without further legal proceedings
our own State, and, in case OF the nece
na0 sity for such further proceedings, he
long we are permitted to retain the alleg
fugitive in custody awaiting the dett
mination of such proceedings, or ava
y ~, NJ ing the making OF formal demand
..25gJ extradition by the State from which {
VI VI said fugitive is alleged to have fled.
%, "These questions and many othC
.a,e often cause perplexities which, with t
as thousand and one other things we ha
an TO contend with make trouble for {
u ne administration Of our police department
Old ., Ia0;slatjo1 w. 9 mon the metbod bv Viii
fugitives from justice may be handed o'
TO the authorities of the State from viii
they have fed but there should also
OF uniformity OF legislation as TO the offer
een for the commission of which persons m
hg be extradited. Extradition Of alleg
70 fugftives for trAing and petty offen
no no should not be permitted except in VI
will
''' '' R0hER nAf'