The Washington times., 1907-11-09
Superintendent Submits
Report to District
Commissioners.
Several Much Needed
Improvements Sought
for Department.

In the report of Maj. Richard Syl-
Tester, Superintendent of Police, for
the fiscal year ended June 80, 1897,
submitted to the Commissioners tOS
day, are contained recOmmenda-
Jions looking toward a better police
protection for the District, an in
crease in the force, the improve
ment of the station houses, the es-
Sabhshment of an inebriate asylum,
and the adoption Of more stringent
regulations regarding the governing
of clubs in which liquor is sold.
Attention is called also to the ex-
tent to which cocaine and other
poisOns are sold, Notwithstanding
the strict enforcement of the new
pharmacy law, and recommendation
is made that the law be amended
making it a violation for anyone
not licensed druggist, physician,
or dentist, or veterinarian 70 have
in his possession any narcotic drug
or drugs except upon the preserip-
tiOn of a licensed physician.
Force Consists Of 7s1 Officers.
The aggregate population cf the Dis
trlct. says the report, is 529 5ol, of whom
253. 403 are white and 96.1SS are colored.
on July / the authorized police force
consisted OF 73l men. but there We're
twelve vacancies on that date. so that
the number was reduced TO rs These
men, aside from watching the property.
preserving the peace and arresting Grim
trails. are charged with the enforcement
OF several hundred police regulations.
I'm order" says the report. Ito ac-
compiish what is expected and what
should be done. a well organized police
force is maintained, but II is deficient IN
numbers. The situation is such, that 10
order to control, the directing authority
tingent OF the force TO, in any proper
manner, obtain compliance with the
laws ard regulations That Is. the
shortage Of force requires that one 10
cality be left partly unprotected While
protection Is anOrded aEOtEeT,
Protection Is Diminished.
police protection in the day time is
further diminished. and very materially
so, by the necessity for privates who
should be done, a well-OrganiZed police
in attendance upon the police courts to
prosecute cases where arrests were
made after 10 o'clock on the previous
day. There have been days when the
police patrol force in a precinct was
reduced in this manner to two or three
men which means that they had TO
cover all the beats within their district.
The beats or area of patrol are about
twice the extent during the day IhaL
they are the greater period Of the
night Some of them embrace sixty or
seventy squares, while in the outlying
localities many Of them are more eX-
tended.
The business section including Penn
sylvania avenue r and @ street, and
Seventh, Fourteenth and Fifteenth
streets and Connecticut avenue, should
be so closely patrOlled as to permit of a
member OF the force being called into
requisitiOn without long search and de-
Law. II is not the part of wise provision
that a citizen may not succeed in find
ing more than one or two patrOlmen be
the Treasury, in a distance of fully
mile.
Outskirts Need Protection.
Dense population and close area re-
ouires a strong policing, but an extend
ed area. with an extended population
should have "a much larger force. The
merchant or official whose home is in
the outskirts Of the city, leaves his fam
ilv for the day, without assistance close
at hand, and he is entitled to just as