The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-11
MUCH GOSSIP ABOUT POLICE ACTIVITY What Steps Will New Commits
 sion Take FIRST MEETING x TONIGHT Rumor Says That Policemen Will Be Put On Thirty, Sixty and Ninety Days Trial-Large Force
 Urged.
FIRST MEETING x TONIGHT

Birmingham's new police commission will hold it's first session tonight, and there is much speculation going the rounds as to just what course will be followed by them.
 Tonight is also the annual election night for all members of the force from the chief down. That Chief Bodeker will continue in office is a certainty, the mat ter having been submitted to the people at the democratic primary last summer and Bodeker winning by an overwhelming vote over ex-Chief Weir. While the board has 1t in it's power to elect whomsoever
 it pleases. it Is not believed it will
 decline to elect the peoples choice.
 Whether the lid Is to be squeezed
 down tight is also causing some talk. Some insist that the "cover" Is already screwed on entirely too tight, while there are few persons who insist that there is
 absolutely no top.
 There are two things which wise" per sons are certain will happen The new
 board is going after the gambling ele-
 ment, and in order to do so an effort will be made to increase the police force. That Chief Bodeker has done all that he could to enforce the prohibition and gam bling laws with the small force he has at his command is generally conceded, &C., cording to persons who come in close con- tact with the police department The fact,
 too, that convictions do not follow in half
 the prohibition arrests Is also shown by
 the court records.
 | Constant visits are made by officers to | the different social club rooms and estab- l lishments suspected of being gaming houses, but with the great number Of 1 these places existing in Birmingham and l the small force the officers cannot possi- bly, visit each place except at long Inter- 1 vals.
 l One rumor has it that the new board
 will not pass on any of the officers for some time, but instead will place them 1 on 30, 60 and go days trial. Each officer is to be given a list of the suspected places on his beat and told that he must
 visit each place every few minutes If ar- rests and convictions follow, the officer
 retains his place on the force.
 To visit each of these places means that the officers on certain beats will be worn
 out by the finish of their eight-hour shift
 On some beats the suspected places run
 from six to dozen in number. To stop in each one every few minutes will com pei some of the officers to climb few l miles of stairways during the eight hours l Shortening the beats, which would ne- cessitate more policemen is said to be the | only solution. This would place the 2s additional men, which Chief Bodeker has l requested be added to his force, in the l business part of town and still leave the | residence districts unprotected. At pres- ent the entire residence part of Birming- ham is not polced except by few scout bicycle policemen, who do well to cover the great amount of territory assigned to them once in eight hours.
 Carl H. Seals and F. B. Yielding, with
 Mayor Frank P. OBrien as ex-ofricio member will comprise the new commits sion. It is understood that Seals seat will be contested by John Matthews, the republican candidate, who only received very small vote, but who was third in the race. The claim will be made that Seals was not legal resident of Birmingham at the time of the election, the supreme court having knocked out the Mountain Terrace annexation since the election was held. Recently, however, Mountain Ter race has again been annexed to Birming- ham by a practically unanimous vote. Mayor O'Brien has taken the matter up with City Attorney Robert H. Thach, who has advised that Mr. Seals is a qualified police commissioner and that all acts per- formed by him as such will be valid and binding.