The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-08-06
BILL DEvERY HE < SAYS N. Y. POLICE
 ARE TOO SMART

whenever you hear a man raisin' a howl about how rotten the New York police force is. watch him. He's tryin' to grab something.''
 So says Big Bill Devery, finest chief of police that New York ever had" Sitting inside the vitagraph company's enclosure at Far Rockaway last night, he paid his respects to the traducers of the ''finest,'' while waiting for the picture of the big fight to be thrown on the screen.
 ''The New York police force is a badly abused set of men. They've al- ways been the butt in politics. Every d-n grafter that's on to his job uses the force as a decoy. and cusses it out before he goes ahead and works his own little game. It's like a pickpOcket jumpin' out of a crowd an @yellin' Stop thiefn to get the crowd chasin' another fellow, so he can get away with the goods.
 I'm not sayin' anything against what Mayor Gaynor's been doing. He's got right to go round to night courts and all that, and form his own opin- ions. He's the citv executive and all that sort of thing. But take that holy Committee of Fifteen that raised such howl about the red light L--+rict a few years ago. They were after their own little graft, you can bet your bot tom dollar on that. Why. if a man
 
 " Park and lug it away down to the Narrows. he'd begin by sayin' what a rotten police department New York s got. Oh, what's the use?'
 The chief relapsed into mournful silence. then continued with consider able heat:
 FORGE TOO SMART.
 They're saying now that the men on the force are stupid. I never found cf1 hn tr0 xxif a today is that all of 'em are too darn wise for the good of their muscles. Under this here civil service we're get in lot of fellows that have got the brains all rghti. but haven't got the brawn to meet a situation singled handed What the force needs is hus- ky laborers and hodcarriers, you might say, and 'longshoremen, and that. One of the old force could have thrown three O. these here college graduates they're getting now over the fence.
 Then they're sayin' that too many arrests are made. But I tell you can't make too many arrests. provided you've got any suspicion that the feller you're arresting isn't on the square.
 As the chief rallied to the defense of the policy that made his regime famous. his eyes flashed with some of the oldtime fire that used to make a 300 pound Irish policeman tremble.
 You've got a big city with 5.000,00O people to look after. You've got to keep them under surveillance every minute. If a mans disorderly on the street and annoying people that are passin,' lock him up. If there's a big parade in the city, or somethin' like that, where there's a good chance for crooks. get after the men who've been pinched before for stealth and lock 'em up. They're better off behind the bars for a few days. If a boy goes around with suspicious characters lock him up. You can tell a crook by the com rany he keeps
 An if there's big crime been com mitted and ye've got any suspicion at all who did it. lock him up. If they'd done that with Crippen. they wouldn' t have needed any ship captain to help them nab him.
 They took his word O. honor'"
 PURE CONTEMPT.
 The chief snorted contemptuously Take their word O honor: that's all right after you get 'em behind the bars. But arrest the fellers first. Then you know where you've got 'em. Ii they can prove their innocence they'll get out all right"