The daily sentinel., 1907-07-12
MUST DO
THEIR DUTY
The Night Policemen Given
Decided Orders By the
Mayor--Don't I Like to Stay
Up For Trials

Mayor Wentworth is determ- I
: ined that the police officers of i
+ Grand Junction shall do their I
+ duty and earn their salary. He i
+ proposes to stand for no neg /
+ lect of duties. He issued a I
: strongly worded order along /
+ this line yesterday. +
Two ,robberies have occurred in
Grand Junction during the past sixty
hours, both at night and neither OF
the night officers had any knowledge
that robberies had been committed
although each place entered was a
business house, until they read an ac-
count of the robberies in the Daily
Sentinel. OF course it is not unusu-
al for robberies to occur and police
officers be kept in the dark until the
next day so careful do some thieves
do their work. However Mayor Went
worth and others believe that if the
alleys in the business sections were
| patroled by the night officers as they
are expected to be patroled by the
night officers that often robberies
could be prevented and suspicious
characters kept from lettering in the
alleys.
There has also been considerable
comment on the fact that few hoboes
and drunks are run in" any more by
the night police officers, yet some
people hold that there are plenty of
hoboes and not a few drunks to be
seen on the streets at night.
1t is said that the night policemen
are not anxious to make arrests of
such unimportant offenders as hoboes
and drunks for the reason that they
prefer to go to bed early the next
morning rather than have to stay up
until seven or eight O'Clock to appear
at trials at police court. 1t is report
ed that one officer has made the
statement that 81 won't stay up till
eight O'Clock in the morning for any
man.
1t is generally supposed that there
are more offenders abroad at night
than in the day time yet fewer arrests
are made in Grand Junction at night
than are made in the day time. For
instance during the month of June
Chief of Police O'Neil made 10 ar
rests, Fire Chief Rogers made ar
rests, nearly all being made in the
day time. During the same month
only eleven arrests were made by
the regular night officers, 8 by OFF,
Ger Patterson and 6 by officer Whar-
ton. officer Mahoney, who is not
employed by the city but by the rail-
road company for work at the sta
tion, only, made arrests at night
during the month.
1t seems that Mayor Wentworth
has had no little trouble with his
night police force. He had consider
able difficulty in getting them to don
the regulation uniform, finally having
to issue a rigid order to get his wish
es carried out in this matter.
In regard to the work expected of
the night officers Mayor Wentworth
issued the following order to Chief of
Police O'Neil yesterday:
Grand Junction, Colo,
July II, 1907.
Mr.. c. C. o'Neil. Chief of Police,
City.
Dear Sir
Referring to the burglaries that
occurred last night, and the night
before; If the night police were Wig
could occur without them knowing
liant, it does not seem these matters
something about it: | understand they
didn't know anything about these
robberies until reading it in the pa
pers; They should understand it is
their duty to patrol the alleys as well
as the streets. and If they find lott
erers in the alleys after night they
should require a full explanation; Il
have been told that the night men
don't arrest hoboes etc, because they,
object to appearing in police court 70
prosecute: This is part of their duty
and unless they will observe same
their services are of very little use;
I expect you as chief of police to line
them up properly and If they will not
comply you must bring the matter
to the attention of the council and
let them take action.
Yours very truly,
]. r. WENTWORTH,
Mayor.