The sun., 1910-02-25
CLUBLESS POLICE OF TOLEDO
fOME THERE ISN'T PERFECT,
HIT NEARLY so.
Ns,Or Brand Whitlock sings ITS Praises
MI Truc That ISlS BIuecoats Lead
the Drunks Home With Kind words,
hut They Try 10 Avoid ArrestS


but They Try 10 Avoid Arrests.
Report has had il that IL a citizen in
Toledo, ohio, takes a drop too much the
roI,smIn who catches him does not "a kt
him to the lookup but conveys him home
trends few minutes in pointing out the
evils IT Intemperance. leaves a tract ano
e,tra,ts promise before he gees bach
into th- night to look for other bclated
one, Brand Whitlock. the Ma yor OF
ToIedo. said yesterday that this report i.
slightly exaggerated and drew a picture
OF has police as they really are. clubless
and ,aueless and unable to beat up citi-
zcns when they wish to. but as he asserted,
extraordinarily efficient.
Mr. Whtlock used to be a newsnaper
man in Chicago. Then he won't back "a
Toledo his home town. and began TO prac-
tisa law and write novels. A little more
than four years a go when they were look
ing about for a man to succeed Golden
Rule Jones they elected Mr.. Whitlock
against four other candidates, and then
they did the same thing thing two years
b ter and gain last fall. His Honor, who
is about 40 and looks serious, disclaims
the characterization Of reformer. He
says a reformer has come to mean a per-
son who tries to make other people good.
whereas his aim is only to give the wea k
brother a chance.
i was not responsible for taking away
the clubs from the Toledo policemen.
said Mayor Whitlock at the Manhattan
Yesterday. Golden Rule Jones did that.
and let them carry canes. took the
a..
out any kind OF truncheon. As a
result nobody ever gets beaten. think
this plan is going to be adopted elsewhere.
They are already taking it up in Detroit.
where they have disarmed the traffic
squad of its clubs. Your Fifth avenue
policemen do not need the club any more
than they need a rife
The plan in Toledo has had this effect.
that it ha5 given the policemen a new
conception OF their duties and impressed
them with the fact that they are not
there to hurt but TO protect people The
policemen at first objected to giving up
the weapon. but venture to say that now
you could not find one policeman in
Toledo who would go back TO the club
il YOU would let him.
When | visit other cities am alwa1s
impressed with a sense OF brutality by the
sight Of policeman carrying "A club
Toledo s a very orderly city Last
summer at the Grand Army encamp-
ment we had to handle 200. 900 strangers
and there was no trouble OF any kind
We try to have our policemen understand
that the man is not necessarily the best
policeman who makes the most arrests.
nor the one that makes the iewest but
is better than to get him into trouble.
So our policemen are instructed II they
see a drunken man where they can get
him home without leaving their beat
that W. would rather have them do this !
than take him to the police station Even |
II the man Is taken to the station we
don't charge him with a crime or invest /.
blm with a police record. We give the |
poorer citizen the same advantage pos |
-ess.ed hy man who gets drunk at his |
rub. where his friends see that he gets |
home safely But we do not, require |
our policemen to convert tbs drunkard.
Inns course has reduced disorder to-
4 considerable extent as IL avoids fights. |
No policeman has ever been beaten up /
euher. Our police generally and our |
raffic squad are uniformed just like |
hose in New York The only thing is tn AZ !
,s natty. Then we have motorcycle |
squad, which think is going to revolIi- !
ionize the policing OF cities. The motor |
cycle men are kept at the police stations !
n reserve, and anybody who needs
policeman can get one within two minutes.
In fact though Toledo covers twenty |
eight square miles there is no place where !
we cannot put a policeman within five 1
We stumbled on this idea too
Dur motorcycle squad was originally |
'ormed to stop speeding. Then one day /
somebody wanted a policeman in q hurry \
md one OF these men was sent out As !
/ result we are increasing the squad as [
rapidly as we can get money.
Then we have established a night |
school in our house OF correction. The
after used to be called the workhouse.
nut its present superintendont changed !
Is name. and he is 50 proud of the insti- /
ution that our Director OF Public Safety 1
Ilways refers to il as the house OF per-
ection.' In this institution all the pun
shments that are inflicted in most re-
ormatories have been abolished. About !
i1 hundred men have BEEN paroled from !
t. and only about four have been re-
urned as violators OF their parole.
Graft? Well. q Councilman was re-
moved the other day Tor what was said |
o be an attempt at graft. but this is the
My case Of the sort reported in years.
We have however, uncovered some pecu
atoms OF former administrations.
Il don't pretend to be able to make the
Tprld over and am not a reformer, but
think we can cure a great many OF our
lyic troubles il we can get the idea OF
rlvllege out OF the mind OF the governing
odies and out of the minds OF the people.
public Office has come to be regarded
: privilege rather than responsibility.
Ihch is the proper conception. The
fficial thinks he is privileged 10 do GER
ain things. The private citizen thinks he
, entitled to get some OF that privilege
way from the official. At Albany they |
re uncovering the purchase OF the privi-
sge OF making laws. n the idea OF privi-
.ge could be got out of the public mind
here wouldn't be any graft"
Mayor Whitlock was the speaker at
esterday's meeting OF the Equal Fran
hise Society, which was held at the
Iarden Theatre. The arguments he ad-
anced in favor OF woman suffrage were
pparently deemed incontrovertible by
no audience for there were no anti"
,rcs,ions r. ar ba had finiahed sDeak king