Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-01
TARIFF HOPES Vain HANDICAP Of POLICE
nsTuents See No Chance OF Too Few of Them and Too
Revision by Next Congress. Much Work to Do.
THINK DEMOCRATS FUTILE TOO MANY REGULATIONS
DO Not They Can Agree Too
Upon Any Program Much Behind Times
SCIENTIFIC PLAN OR NONE MAJ SYLvESTERS REPORT
Schedules Merely for
AXE of
Too Few of Them and Too
Much Work to Do.
TOO MANY REGULATIONS
Too Much Ground to Cover and Too
Much Behind Times.
MAJ. sYLVESTER'S REPORT
Believes Time Is Now to Modernize
Department in Equipment and
Numerical Force.

Numer1cal EOrce.
That the police force is handicapped by
inadequate numbers. by the amount of
work required of the men, by the vast
territory to be covered by patrolmen, by
the enormous number of regulations that
have to be enforced and that the District
OF Columbia has grown up and left the
police force far behind 1t. is the burden
of the principal feature of the annual
report of Maj. Richard sylvester. super
intendent of police. presented to the
Commissioners today
Along with the report were submitted
detailed estimates for the force as Maj.
Sylvester would like to see it. These
figures will not be made public until they
reach Congress.
Time to Modernize Department.
The time is now. says the report,
when the metropolitan police depart
ment of the District of Columbia should
have accorded to it the numerical force.
in officers and subordinates, as well as
facilities of a modern character, that
would enable it to be conducted along
the most advanced lines, and becoming
the police institution of a great capital
and its environments, not alone to meet
present conditions, but in anticipation of
the growing demands for extraordinary
accomplishment"
The report presents a detailed census
of the eleven police precincts. showing
the population of every section. every
real estate subdivision and of the sixty
villages in the District of Columbia, as
part of the argument that the police
force falls short in numbers of what 1t
should be to guard so many people. 1t
dlf0 a lie he ,hH hy,sI<1 Al,
more important United States officials
who have to be guarded and watched
and kept from annoyance, and says that
while the capital of the nation has been
making beautiful city of itself it dis
tinctly has not provided itself with the
means for regulating and protecting the
many diversified interests included with
In its jurisdiction
I'm order to secure what is expected
says the report, "a well organized and
efficient police force is maintained, but
1t is deficient numerically"
Suburbs Entitled to Protection.
Maj. Sylvester takes the same view that
some citizens in the suburbs where lights
were cut off took on the police proposi-
tiOn:
In the District Of Columbia, for in
stance, the residents of the various vii
lagos and towns in the outskirts are sub
ject to the. same laws and pay the same
taxes as do those who reside in the more
congested sections. and they are entitled
to the same police attention that is afford
ed where the population is more dense.
1t has been admitted frankly by those
fully advised that this comparison is
just one, and among other arguments sub
mltted is the one that the citizen who lives
without the denser populated locality is
less immune from robbery or assault than
Is the person who lives within hailing
distance of assistance at all times in the
more congested quarters"
Would Modernize Cells.
The report asks for better cell corridors
and cell rooms in some of the police sta
tions. 1t asks for a new police station
in the northeast section.
1t also says tthat there was a decided
decrease in the number of criminal cases
of magnitude last year than ever before.
Seven murders were followed by arrests.
The report claims that only four fully
uncleared murder mysteries are charged
against the department since 1898.
There were less deadly assaults than the
year previous. Only thirty-nine people
raided empty houses and carried off the
fixtures and everything else they could
take away. False pretense and other
con- games were played 159 times. ac-
cOrding to the police, less than the year
previous. Grand larceny was reported to
the police in 424 cases, which was less
than the year previous.
But of minor arrests there were, as
usual, about $1,000. That means that one
in every ten people in the District have
been arrested
The police returned $1O4, 1880 in money
and property to citizens of the District.
Some of this was lost or mislaid, and the
minimum amount reported as stolen was
S9S,367.S 81.
Liquor Selling to Minors.
In speaking of the police and the excise
law, in one place the report says:
Much difficulty attends the apprehend-
ing of those who knowingly sell to
persons under age where the appearance
of the buyer is misleading as to lawful
years. There are no dance halls in this
community, although music is an attrac-
ton in many places where liquid refresh
ments are dispensed
However. there were eighteen arrests
and seventeen convictions for selling liq-
tuor to minors.
| \ Maj. Sylvester wants target range
| fsr the men who have to carry revolvers.
III also urges the establishment of an
| insbriate hospital. where habitual cases
mislt be treated
He says ehat until such an institution
| is maintained it might be q help to have
| waN in some or all of the police sta
| tions there a person in the throes of
''hang-kyer'' could receive medical at
| tention Apd care. If this could be brought
about, AID competent medical attention
| assured. Y would save a great many
| cases OF tGeatened heart failure, accord
| ing TO the major, on the part OF the sta
| tion house fEce, which is expert at bring
| ing I'm intoxiaRted men, but scarcely COM
petent to prekribe treatment.
The report asks that the police be
relieved OF thA responsibility of receiy-
ing the weekly collections adjudged by
the Juvenile CotfV against husbands con-
victed of nonsuprTt. 1t also recommends
that a school of ofNnstruction be establ-
lished. whereby IN policemen could be