The Washington herald., 1908-03-15
Job of Guarding Peace in
Capital Is Not Easy.
ON DUTY FOR LONG HOURS
Force Is Divided Into Four Sections.
A, b, c, and D-No Time on for
Duty-FOrce Rotates so that Each
Division Has share of Work.

lieeman has IAN easy thing OF il is
about as well founded in fact as the
equally general report that the moon is
made Of Roquefort cheese and that mil
lions of little r1aggots work day and night
to keep # in good condition.
The fact of the matter is that probably
no other profession has such long hours,
so many or so arduous duties. or so much
unpIeasantness. The man who goes on
the force with ideas 20 the contrary. as
many young men fresh from the country
do. will be sadly left.
Every one OF the finest is Supposed
10 be at work at least nine and a half or
ten hours a day. And this does not count
extra time, which is frequently called for.
There are four divisions in the police
world-sections A. B. c. and ID. The
members Of the first are on duty during
the day, and the other sections are on
at night one section. besides doing night
duty. acting as reserves. The reserves
are a sort Of supernumerary body, filing
vacancies and relieving their comrades
who are detailed to special duty. OF who
are absent because OF illness
on Duty IN Morning.
The members Of section A go on duty
at 5 o'clock in the morning and are re-
relieved at o'clock in the afternoon.
They are allowed no time of for meals.
When section 4 goes off duty, the men
Of section 3 take their places. When the
men are answering roll call and prepar-
ing 70 start their tricks OF duty. the sta
tion houses are like rookeries or crow S
nests at nightfall, with the squads OF
dark-coated men flying in and out in
their systematic way The men OF see
tion b are on duty until Z O'Clock, mid
night
Section c goes on duty at o'clock in
the evening and goes of at > O'Clock in
the morning. BY this arrangement the
streets are patrolied by a double force
from early in the evening untiPan early
hour in the morning
ID section goes on duty al midnight and
/ is relieved az 5 o'clock in the morning
by section A.
Besides acting as an additional force
10 the regular men during the early part
OF the night. section { is on reserve duty
from 3 O'Clock in the morning until i
o'clock noon.
Sections Rotate
The policemen are assigned to their
sections weekly in rotation. the men in
section A going 10 section b the follow
ing week. and so until they have done
duty on each trick Then they start
over again on the tiresome round.
The duties Of the reserve men are 10
go 10 theaters, balls. and so on, and
wherever an extra squad of men is re-
quired in the face Of an emergency. II
big fire should break out to Illustrate
this last point. members Of this body
would assist the district men in keeping
order at it.
The work Of sections \ and 3 is said
to be the most exhausting OF al physi-
cally. Day is made 20 work in. night
/ for sleeping" an experienced officer ex-
fpained last week. The actual routine OF
work IS not difficult, however.
/ All that the night man has 10 do is tC
guard the peace. He does not have the
/ perplexing small cares that the day mar
I has He does not make many arrests
/ comparatively. but those that he doe.
make are usually more important than
those made at other times. for graveI
/ crimes are committed in the dark hours
/ than in the light
Much Loss of sleep.
or course. the amount OF work that q
night man can do depends altogether
upon the locality in which he IS II in
Mount Pleasant. for instance-the most
peaceful spot in the elty-his duties
| hardly ever require more than the faithful
patrol cf his beat or directions occasion
ally 10 some convivial homecomer Of how
and where TO find home
The same man placed in the tender
I loln district or in southwest Washing
/ ton. would be forced 10 make many
petty arrests for disturbances, Of the
peace.
Suppose a night man does make an ar
rest. however. lie VIII have 10 appear al
the hearing next morning. His case come.
/ up with number OF others. II NAV b,
/ II or L o'clock before he is able to 20
/ home. He has 10 come to the court
room. to wait his turn, at O'Clock in IN,
morning.
Their he has been on duty two or thre,
hours more than usual. The rest that h,
should have gotten during The day ha,
been so broken into that his regula,
round that night will tell on him greatly
This is common occurrence.
In especially troublesome districts nigh
men have had 10 appear in court severa
mornings in succession. losing almost al
their sleep during that time Whenevel
anything OF this sort comes to the ears o,
| the captain. however, he usually gives ,
day for recuperation. Sometimes this /,
| impossible IL there is anything going oT
that requires the fun force or If the man.
duties are of character that substitut,
could not fiji.
4 Cops Many Duties.
There is general idea that the police
man in the daytime has little more TO d,
than TO stand on a corner and swing bi,
club or firt with passing nursemaids
Possibly these two things are part o.
his duties. having become that from Gus.
tom. as they add 10 the dignity. lelsur,
and idea of reserve force Of the man
but ne has in addition many small de.
tails Of routine that would tax the mos,
gifted person 10 remember in their en-.
tirety- He has to know all of the city
statutes. with their amendments, and ht
must see that they are enforced.
His beat is just as long as the night
mans and with this exhausting mass OF
! details he has more to do. But he does
not have to work in the dark or out o.
! hours.
II is difficult TO make a distinction IN
any Of these classes. however. The day
man swears that his duties are pleasant
est when he Is in good humor and worse
when he is bad-tempered, and this hold.
I true Of all the others as we'll
Possibly those Of section CO. have a bet
ter right 10 kick. from an outsider.
standpoint, than anybody else. They hav,
such broken hours and their work is al