The evening star and Newark advertiser., 1907-10-03
LONG BRANCH
NOT ROBBERS
PARADISE
More Temptation but Less
Crime Than at Most Other
Seaside Resorts.

To the Editor of the Evening Star:
News articles circulated recently regard
ing a series of burglaries and hold-ups In
this city tend to produce the Impression
among outsiders that Long Branch is a
lawless place. This is not true. Nothing
is further from the truth.
As is we'll known among those acquainted
with conditions at the Jersey coast re-
sorts. New York crooks have for years
regarded these places as offering excellent
opportunities for the plying Of their trade
during the summer season. when the re-
sorts are crowded with strangers Detec-
tion at such times is manifestly extremely
difficult and the field IS an ideal one for
the whole profession. from pickpockets 70
second-story men.
Long Branch is a clean. orderly. law
abiding city Its superior in this respect
does not exist In the United States. Coun-
ty Jail statistics compiled recently showed
that Asbury Park had over twice as many
prisoners there although 1t has but about
half the population and is a prohibition
town also. Grimes of violence are extreme
~ rare here
However in common with other resorts.
this place has each summer suffered from
the depredations of professional house
breakers and sneak thieves. The hundreds
of palatial mansions, In any of which
thousands of dollars worth of plunder
could be secured at a single haul, attracted
the burglars
The police force, too. was inadequate.
Its efficiency has been maintained at a
high standard, but it Is a physical inpos-
sibility for single patroman to protect
several hundred cottages set far back from
the streets hidden In trees and shrubbery
for distance of three or four miles, the
length of some mems beat. A force of
about twenty-five men had to protect a
territory from Elberon to North Long
Branch, inclusive, a distance of over six
miles along the ocean front, and rum
ming back inland from a mile to two and
one-half miles.
| You recently published statistics in an
| editorial showing that there is a police
| man in Newark to every COZ residents, a
smaller force in comparison with popula-
tion than New York, Philadelphia Boston
Washington, London, Berlin, Dublin, Ant
| werp, st. Petersburg or any other large
American or foreign city. In Long Branch
the proportion is much larger even thar
| in Newark. Taking the regular police
force OF twenty-five and the summer popu
lation of 100000. we find there is only on'
policeman to every 1900 people, with the
winter population of 1900, only one tt
| every 600. Their work, under these cir
cumstances, speaks volumes
During the past summer, however, thu
city had the benefit of additional polic'
protection, through the patrol service o
| the New York and New Jersey Detectiv
and Patrol Company. This company ha'
under the direction Of Superintendent Jo
seph ]. Kiernan forty patrolmen doinl
duty, and this late in the fall still ha
twenty-five. This has made Long Branc
freer from burglaries this season than an
other resort along the coast.
Only in outlying and comparatively un
protected districts has there been bur
glary, except in a single instance right /
the heart of the city few days age
The few hold-ups were by negro thugs /
t-of-the-way places and stage driver
were the victims,
New York, Newark or any other cit
might take pride in such record Of fre'
dom from the depredations of burglars Q
Long Branch has enjoyed this season.
B. BOISSEAN BABBITT.
Editor Daily Record.
Long Branch, N. j., Oct 2.