Omaha daily bee., 1907-02-04
want omcer rarker.s Positioa.

OMAHA. Feb. 2.-To the Editor of The
Bee: On November 5. 1907, was elected
truant ofhcer by the Board Of Educati On
The committee that made the terms with
me thought II best to have me sworn In
as a special policeman. furnished
bond for 81 900. and was sworn in as sDe-
cial policeman No. 1S5.
The present agitation concerning the du-
ties of the truant officer was caused by
the raid Probation Ofilcer Carver and /
made on a cave located at Forty-third
street and Grand avenue Thanksgiving.
A 17-year-old boy tried TO get away by
running lust as soon as he saw us.
fred my pistol but IT diS have the
desired erect. II made faster
| but I soon caught him ught him
back to the cave, and Il took him
and two other boys to the police station.
where Sergeant Cook examined them and
/ upon our recommendation sent them home
1 TO destroy the cave. D.,
onicer carver asked two Of them to re-
port at the Juvenile court the following
/ Saturday.
] The principal Of the school. located
within 400 feet OF this cave. had upm-
! planned to me that 1t was a nuisance, and
| that some of the boys belonging to her
l
Someone had sent a complaint 10 Once.
/ Carver and he had asked me to go with
him.
went as a special policeman and moi
as a trllant ofhcer.
! IL the authority OF a truant offcer had
been suficient 1t would not have been ne
cessary to have me sworn is as q specia
policeman.
The FIRST sentence in the section OF this
law relating TO truant officers says thai
they shall qualify as police officers.
II was through my efforts In this very
! district that a man was convicted twic'
and punished twice for committing crimes
too filthy to put into print. The third cas-
against this same man was worse than th'
1 first two but was not prosecuted.
The neighbors made II so hot for thii
man that he moved from the district.
Some Of the boys mixed up witt
this man belonged to the cave gang ant
know IT, One Of the boys IL in the In
dustrial school at Kearney as the result
of the pernicious influence of this man.
few days before we raided this cave
as / was making a short cut across SOM
vacant property I discovered a fifteen-year
old boy assaulting his younger sister In
patch OF weeds and this boy. too. ha,
helped TO build the cave and spent q grea
deal of his time there although he was no
there the night we raided the cave.
II Is an officers duty TO prevent truancl
and crime as well as TO punish the of
fender after he has committed the act.
I have found that no good comes from
caves. but that they are used by truants L
hide in. smoke cigarettes, use tobacco
read trashy literature, rush the can, tel
vulgar stories. etc.
Since this raid young men In other part
OF the city have told me- what they used I
do IN caves. and these same young me
said: Break up the caves, that's wher
we learned most OF our meanness."
have not 'usurped powers and func
tons which the law does not give" n
evidence OF the above quotation OF ''un
warranted ofheiousness has been pro
ouced and the verdict must be not guilty.
To my knowledge not . single eharg
has been made against the truant offoer.
This agitation was not caused by tn
, truant offioer putting children into the de
tention school. That question has neve
been called 10 my attention IN an oncis
way.
II my superior oficers DO not want m
70 raid caves and bring men 20 trial tina
are running our boys and girls they mus
say so. Then the responsibility win res
on them.
I have consulted some OF the best Ises
authorities IN the city and they said tins
had not exceeded my authority.
WILLIAM PARKER