Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-28
OUR POLICE PROTECTORS

4 htsfA Ifk LIS ANTILLES sHOuiO
IN have and must have and will
NJ have police force that is organ
ized, manned and conducted on
American principles. In that import
ant branch of the public service it is
essential for the preservation of
American rights and for the mainte-
nance of the welfare of the commu-
nifty that the spirit of the force should
be one of thoroughly patriotic appre-
citation of the duties and obligations
TO the American public of every pub
lie official and every public servant.
Any man who takes wages from the
public should study the interests of
his employer and so regulate his ac-
lions that his office holding should
never become paradoxical. Perhaps
the use of the term office holding is
too loose. Perhaps many people have
really come to believe the man holds
and possesses the office and admins
ters it at his sweet will.
But this is putting the cart before
the horse, for one of the principal
characteristics of American govern
ment as it was planned was that the
Office should hold the man and that
he should do his full duty by the Of
fee and BY his employer, the public,
as long as he was a salaried incum-
bent.
A correct appreciation of the du-
ties Of men who are held by
office and controlled by official re-
sponsibilities would result in an eff
fective reform. 1t is a REIMBURSEMENT
of the point of view that is needed.
The servants of the public must study
the wishes and rights of the public,
and this applies especially to the
servants who wear the public livery.
The object Of uniforming the police
force is to apprise the public of the
fact that the uniform wearer is a public
servant, bound in return for the
wages he draws from the public to
treat the public with civility, to an
swer questions, to help the old, the
feeble, the sick or children at dan
gerous street crossings and to keep
good order, not for the sake of the
pastime of breaking the heads of the
riotous or rushing them off to jail.
BUT FOR THE SAKE OF PRO
TECTING MEMBERS OF THE PUB
Lie WHOSE PERSONAL SAFETY
OR WHOSE PROPERTY MAY BE
INPERILED BY THE CONDUCT OF
THE DISORDERLY.
The FIRST thought of the police
man who knows his business is PRO
lection. The next is how to effect
it. If the protection of the public ne
cessitates official interference with the
liberty OF an offender, an arrest is
justifiable. But any arrest made for
the purpose of showing a PERSONAL
authority which actually does NOT
EXIST, all police authority being de-
rived from THE PUBLIC. is equiva-
lent to insulting the employer as well
as injuring the individual who is in
terfered with by arrest.
The correct relationship of the po-
lice protectors Of the public and guar
dams of the peace to their employer
and to the people in general is not
always thoroughly appreciated by
citizens and is frequently ignored by
the police.
A complete REFORM of police
methods and police attitude to the
public in Los Angeles and in every
other city of the United States would
do more to bring about general good
citizenship and to raise the standard
of public conduct and of individual re-
sponsibllity as we'll of police conduct !
and police responsibility than any
other reform that can be thought of |
within the range of civies.
Greatly to be desired is a police chief |
who will reverse the mental attitude Of |
the men by impressing on them a
sense of their relationship to their en-
ployer, and by teaching them the I'M
derlying philosophy Of their calling, |
which is that in the effort to bring |
about permanent improvement in social |
conditions it is better to attack |
CAUSE than EFFECT. A citizen who |
watches a policeman dragging a drum |
ken man up the street is confronted |
by a concrete example of a foolish |
waste OF economic and social energy, |
for he is viewing an operation that |
will be repeated and repeated and re-
peated as long as the cause which |
produces it is encouraged and toler-
ated by the unlocking citizen and his
fellow citizens.
The cause Of the protection of the |
public will be helped greatly by |
complete reorganization of the police |
force upon the basis Of recognition by |
the men of the fact that their mission |
in life is to serve the public, and not |
to obey political clubs, bosses, |
rings and cliques; and of another i'm
portant fact, which is they should |
study and learn how to deal with |
CAUSE rather than effect, and thus |
would cease piffling and tri1ing and |
squandering the publics time by
running in drunks," and heroically |
subduing feebly pugilistic or maun-
deringly Sassy dlsorderlies. 1t is all |
very well to make a Sunday haul of |
inebriated men. Probably they are
better off in jail than belittering the |
streets and interfering with the prac-
tice of public piety. But with the |