The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-10
HOW POLICE GUARD BIRMINGHAM HOMES System in Use in Important
 Department
19e MEN ARE EMPLOYED
Accidents, Fires, Crimes and All Sorts of General Information Pours Into Headquarters During Twen-
 ty-four Hours
BY RALPH R. SILVER

really is or is doing They know that If
 a burglar breaks into their house they
 can call "doube-five-four' over the tele-
 phone and in a minute or two they will
 have ample protection.
 If one of their children gets hurt while
 on the streets they usually can depend
 upon the police department to tell them
 of it first. When they leave town on their
 vacation the police watch their homes
 in their absence. If fire starts in their
 place of business, or even their home. while they are sleeping in the dead of
 the night, the police find it first and
 give alarm. Every place and every time
 the police can be depended upon to be
 there first and give assistance. Whether
 it Is relief from bowling dog or per
 haps a cat fight that is disturbing their
 midnight slumbers, or whether 1t Is to
 catch a criminal who has murdered their
 loved ones, it is all the same. The police
 are Johbny- n-the-spot, and although
 they sometimes meet with failure. they
 usually give assistance and perform their
 work. At least they always try. | The system which is used by the Bir-
 rningham police department is remarkable | for results. The first unit of the patrol | ing of the city is the regular policeman l on beat. The central part Of the city | is divided Into IS beats, and the patrol | men on these beats call the central off, | flee every half hour for instructions There are four officers called scouts" on the Northside and four on the South side of the city. These scouts are mount arA rl1 al ! their territory, having no special routes. These scouts call the central office In the city hall every half hour for instruc- tions, and in that way are sent from place to place to answer calls for assistance which citizens give in to the central sta tion There are 57 policemen in all that work on each shift in entire Greater Bir- mingham.
 The entire number of police officers in Greater Birmingham, including Chief Bodeker and his private secretary and the detectives, is 196. The days work is di- yided into three shifts of eight hours each, so that new and fresh men are sent all over the city every eight hours AS soon as a call Is received by the desk sergeant at the central station for police assist ance the "call man." who always stays at the station house, is sent to the place on his bicycle AS soon as the scouts in that district call up they are notified I and the same way with the resuiar patrol | men on their beats. In case of murder, burglary and sim- | liar crime, some one close to the scene of | the crime always calls up >>the central | desk sergeant or the policeman on the | beat calls the central station as soon as | he gets information concerning the case. l The desk sergeant who is on duty informs | all the officers who call him up that the crime has been committed and tells them | to call him in a few minutes and get par | ticuiars.
 The desk sergeant makes up com plete description of the criminal if | he has ecaped. gets all particulars Of the crime, the direction the fugitive is supposed to have gone, whether or not he Is liable to take train, where
 he lives and where he has relatives | to whom he might go for assistance. All this Is given to the scouts on both
 sides of the city to the patrolmen on their beats, to the call man and l to special detectives who start on the fugitive's trail from the central off,
 flee and not more than or 10 niin- utes after the crime is committed there
 Is a regular police net spread over the
 entire city. Every patrolman on his beat. the scouts and all officers of
 the force know the description of the criminal and keep on the lookout for him. Under these conditions 1t is all
 most impossible for a criminal to make
 his escape from the city.
 | As an illustration of calls which are
 received during one shift by the desk sergeant, Barney Phillips, desk ser geant on the evening shift, has pre- pared -the following data. These calls are only those given to the central
 station for police assistance They are taken from a night on which business | at the police station was medium. Some nights there are twice as many calls
 and some nights not so many. Special notice is called to the fact that many
 of these calls were attended to in about two minutes after they were re- ceived. These do not include calls which are received by the call man. There were about 25 calls answered in all during the eight hours, making on an average of 7b calls for police assistance received and answered by l the department every day in the week. The data is as follows:
 l l. Drunk man on First avenue and Eleventh street, reported at s:S0; an | .r,.r.a hv Officers Daily and Parker at lS:35 D. m.
 Cutting scrape on Avenue between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets; re- ported at 6 D. n.; answered at 5:05 D.. m. by officers Christian and Pittman.
 8. Lost baby reported at $50 p. m;
 recovered at 6 D. m. by owner.
 4. Citizen leaving city and house will
 be vacant for 10 days; reported at $40 D. m: referred to Scouts McGill and
 Edwards at s:5o p. m.
 5. Complaint regarding howling dog
 referred to Scouts Brent and Hood.
 6. Fight in restricted district; report
 ed at 5:so answered $40 by Patrol- men Todd and Huffman.
 ,l '. Automobile accident at Avenue and Twentieth street; reported by De-
 tectives Turner and Hamilton at D. m. , 8. Officer wanted at Sixteenth street [ and Third avenue to arrest man for
 trespass after warning; reported $40
 referred to officer John Leonard al