The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-04-17
CLEYELAED'S SUNRISE COURT
POLICE RAN fHAr REDUCES
iRRESTS F0e'R-FIFTHS.

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In January. FshruaEy and March. 1907.
there wwFe !, Ia arrssel IN Cleveland. In
the sanss ucnths IN nam ti@re were .sss.
or lees than One-afsh fhe number In 1901
The gilirwnsnce isass.io the methods of
Fred KaAler. chief of police.
Kohler has hsen 20 The Cleveland poIice
force for more than owsnsy years. begin
ming as q pAtsplnnpn. He IN q strict
discipllnarian. Hla policies have sprsad
60 Evansviils. lad; Harrisburg. Pa:
Lansing. Mich: Birmingham. Ala. and
are IN uss iA TaiedOst
IL waA late In IsoV that KohIsr asked
for. a confsrsnce with Mayor John
son add his administration officers and
laid HE plan eofor6 them. Peter VITA
20 10. Wlft had baGn q labor aRitator
and orator before he wan eleCtsd City
Treasurer and had como In conflict with
Kohler more than oaee. He In particular
listened with surprise 90 Kohler's state
msnt.
KOhIsr pointed out that OF the 5000
persons arrested I'm Cleveland in 1901 no
par cent. were discharged In court. Six
thousand only wers held for punishment
Twenty-four thousand went free. either
because they had done nothing 10 warrant
arrest or because there was not evidences
enough 90 hold them. Kohlsr net forth
why he considered this 40 per cent. Of
arrests an injury to the community. His
reasons. a. repeated TO the writer. are a.
follows:
In the first place I've watched arrests
~ member Of the police forcc for twenty
years. They increase steadily in propo-
tion 60 the increase in population ever
yeer. That seems Co Indicate that they TO
not decrease crime.
NEXT. all arrests % persons discharged
In court cause actual harm. very
large proportion of all Arreass are ter
intOSication. Now a man who does No,
drink may keep sJber after he has been
dragged into police court and discharged.
hut the first thing drinking man will do
is To walk straight Out and Ct drunk
again.
-.T coslrHe 10 man Is a habituAl drunk
ard there's noahing ia do nut send him
Co the vorkhouse: bW I'm in doubt
whether that IN a remedy. There IL n
man In Cleveland who has bsrn sent to
the workhouss IN Cleveland a hundred
times and he still drinks There was
a woman who bsfore she died was sent
there seventy times for the same cause
However. I'm not speaking now Of thea
class bsIt of people who are not drunk
ards
Another extremely common result
~ an arrest il that the man loses his Job
The story Of his arrest gets around: he
IL absent trOln work a day or two: he psr.
haps gsts drunk AFTER he is discharged
and ths result il that he finds some on..
else in his place when he goes back That
q heavy price for - man to pay for having
been arrested on . charge On which he
i not held by the court
Then there In the expense There IL
the loss e time Of the prisoner and wit
Tor coanssl. for which s5 apiece is a very I
law average That alons would make I
tiOo.DD0 for the 3O.OOo who went Trss In /
this city In las and who under the old \
regime would have b'-rn brought into =
couT'.
The IO.Os5 persons who were brought
into court by the police ia IW~ cost the 4
city ss3 .On in jury aud witness ices. AZ I
that rate th.' new Ipoiicy saved the city /
slu0.OO an tie 3O.0D that went tree /
There's SsUO.BO that would have been .
paid out under the old regime without 4
any lSeuefit 10 society or any good Co any
one. On the contrary q would hEve .
harmed good many Of the prisoners.
and would have caused distrss.s. hutnilia-
ton and dissrac- To a large number Of \
inn0 ,,-nt p-rSons
-When We Ils..i 20 I,s arr.-stink so many ,
persons the polite courts were crowded I
with cassr nd ran Sll day. Every morn
ing from tN-nty to thirty WOMEN would !
l,- down there. some with babies ia their
arms and thres- az four little Kids hanging /
TO their skirts They would hang about !
all day. waiting for the cas- TO lSe reached. I
and thea after all IA - per cent. ~ the
nasea the man would be discharged. and ,
AL that distress end worry and huTnilia- I
ton were FOR nothing
The result Of the conference Was that 4
kOllsr tried has plan. A. an example
% the way in which the chief went 60 work 4
To cut down the unnecessary arrests 4
may lie related the experience Of a CIeVe-
land newsInap-r man who vas going home
very lste one night.
On tire way he encountered pOlice-
man who Wss STOPPING over a man pros
trats upon the sidewalk. The policeman
was trying To md out whether the man
was drunk or injured. Finding that
was the trouble he called
the Newspaper man. rs a citlzen. to wit
nesesN ttlAt ne rearetl0d TIE utPu clOtneA
merely To- find his address II possible.
In one pocket was found a card contain
ing the address of a house close by.
The prostrate man was not large. the
policeman was. He shouldered the
man and carried him to the
address named. the newspaper man trail
ing along 20 see the end Of the incident.
There was light in the house. Some
one was waiting for the man. The police
man rang the bell. a woman came. they
parleyed, the policeman carried the man
i'm and pat him ON the bed.
This sort II thing goes ON all the time
in Cleveland. IL the mans residence had
been AZ . distance the patrol " agon would
been summoned co carry him home.
10 no address had bsen found he wo,sld I
have been taken to the station house and
left 20 sleep.
AZ or 5 In the morning he would have
been awakened. made 90 tell his name
and address. warned. admOUished and
ssnt home. having fret signed \ waiver i
in which ne agreed not 60 sue the police
for false arrest II he refused 20 Sign
this and preferred tn go into court that
would b. his privilege: but il 10 a privi-
lego rarelv eSerciFsd
This IN the sunrise court Of Cleveland
They also use sunrise a. n verb in
cleveland and talk about -sunFising