Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-29
EFFECTIVE POLICE WORK DEMANDED

| INONDITIONS in Los Angeles demand bet
II ter police service and more protection for
the lives and property of the citizens. Too
many crimes have gone unpunished; too often the
police are baffled Members of the police force
arc not paid to give excuses and talks about the
fads that happen to employ their fances: they are
paid to catch criminals and to prevent crime.
We must have a larger police force and we
must get more efficiency from those who are al
ready employed. The city council has provided
tor the appointment OF many more policemen and
they should be named at once and put to work.
More men will be provided by the city if it is
lproved the present limitations of the force make
the proper protection OF the city impossible. The
new chief of police has it i'll his power to give the
city better public safety service, and every aid
within the power OF the city government and the
whole body OF the citizenry ought to be given to
him. His transfers and Encouragement of the DO
lice department should be unquestoned so long as
he shows ability to fulfill the duties of the post for
which he has been chosen
Chief Sebastian has his hands the duty of
running down and convcting the dynamiters who
were cr1mlnally responsible for the tragedy of the
Times explosion and for the blowing up of the
Llewellyn Iron works. There also is the bandit
who has attacked half dozen young women aud
still is at large a menace to all young girls who
may have to be out at night. There the perre-
traitors of dozen other outrages who are still un-
caught Each of these cases breeds only further
contempt of the law by those with criminal intent
and the repetition OF these crimes shows that the
police force at present constituted no longer has
any terror for the cydoer. An example should
and must be made of each and every one of these
defenders.
At the same time the new chief should rcnen1-
Der that the highest efficiency of police depart
men lies in the prevention of crime rather than in
the catching of the criminal after the offense has
been committed. The best policemen are the ones
who make the feWest arrests, and the best pre-
vcntive of crime is policeman walking his beat
and never out of the sight Of the man who plans
crime
Therefore, Mr.. Sebastian cut down the special
duty details where the officers are merely work
ing out theory making grandstand plays i'll
alleged purity and regulation reforms, and put
them back patrolling the beats where the very
sight OF the night stick and the brass buttons are
a guarantee to all honest persons of safety and
physical warning to crooks that Los Angeles is
not good place for their operations
1t is heap better to meet the professional
criminal when he gets off the train than it is to
search for him after he has violated the law. Our
detectives, with the aid of the data furnished
through the Bertillon system, ought to be able
to pick out these men, and there several on the
staff at least who do know them, but a rule they
have been kept so busy looking after the notions
of their superiors that they have not had chance
to hunt thieves.
What is needed most is for policemen to get
back to real police work.