The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-12
POPULAR HABIT ID
 ROAST POLICEMAN But He Is Human Like Everyone Else SOME OF THE KICKS Many Citizens Are Very Sure They Could Run the Police Depart ment Much Better Than
 Is Being Done
SOME OF THE KICKS
By ANGUS A. ACREE

l Fvervbody "cusses' the policeman Why? Well. in days of long ago someone who was sore on the force started the report that all policemen were crooked and that, while ostensibly their business l was to protect lives and property, their principal business was to graft upon those poor unfortunate individuals who had violated the law and did not want to | be arrested. In other words to get even, this scapegoat of the human race, start ed a tale on the force that they were all Iamenable to bribes.
 From that day to this all soreheads have inherited that one trait from the original sorehead. There is not a sore- head in Birmingham who does not be- lieve that every man on the force is rrafter and honor has never known him. Whether he be of high birth or whether he be of low birth, the minute he enters the police business, he becomes grafter and a dishonest man.
 That is the way the sorehead looks at it..
 But 1t is safe to say that there is not a level headed citizen in Birmingham, who has not the utmost confidence in the police force of Birmingham. If one cnly associated with the policeman like some
 few in the city do, it would not take him long to find out that police are just as
 Human and have feelings just like any
 one else. He will find many sad things
 that are buried beneath blue coat and shield and peaceful look on the outside. Maybe on the inside there is a tumult of
 feelings which only the redoubtable will
 of strong man can conquer and keep
 on the inside.
 One hero has an aged mother whom
 he has to support and be away from her by night, protecting the lives of others In order that he may sustain
 the fickering light of life in the one
 who brought him into the world An
 other there has two young boys whom he Is striving to educate. Oft in the
 lonely hours of the. morning, when he is almost ready to give up, stung to
 the quick by the slurs and insults
 hurled at him by his fellow citizens,
 a thought of his two darling boys at
 home asleep shoots through this fond
 "daddy's" mind and, although a police
 han, he fights on as one of Gods men ) do.
 Still another man on the force fights
 for the maintenance Of me law through his respect of the law. There arc
 really men on Birminghams police
 force who keep their jobs solely through a noble impulse to enforce the
 law. Another does it because he has
 wife and kiddies at home who must be cared for.
 And then there are not few who : do police work because they have a }, little blue eyed iassie waiting for them; sweetheart who is patiently
 waiting until the house and furniture Fare paid for before they cast their lot
 As the partolman treads his beat, or
 as he seemingly gruffly orders that the
 way be cleared, one does not stop to think that this man, enhanced by, blue uniform and brass buttons is but a human and is but a cog in the huge
 machinery of the universe. One rare ly ever thinks that when an arrest
 Is made 1t. oftentimes hurts the man
 who makes 1t as badly as those whom
 he arrest affects. The thought that
 this man has taken a solemn oath to
 do this same thing never crosses tho
 mind.
 Prisoners are few and far between who believe that the officer is justified in making an arrest. Each individual
 who is detained by the officer is of the opinion that he Is being imposed upon. He is ready to tell the world
 that the officer has picked him out of thousand others, and placed him
 under arrest. just because 1t is he. Then, as the rule goes. everyone CO., incides with the man under arrest and as consequence the officer gets | "cussed."
 There are still others who affirm that the officer who arrested him glorified in the arrest. The officer took partic-
 ular delight in being the man to place
 him under arrest. In some cases this Is true. The officer is at times glad that he is able to lock this man up. 1,1 ho hno hoe
 body in hearing, and becoming unbear-
 able, he is arrested. The officer is only human, as has been said before and he cannot take many more things than any other man. Who is there to blame him?
 Why is the officer always at the farthest end of his beat when some- thing Is done? is common question asked. In fact, 1t has become a so- called funny expression of the day that when an officer is needed he is Just as far away as he could be. Of course, that is the case. Anyone can see into that. The parties committing the depre- I dation seek the time that the officer is farthest away from where they wish to operate. then they begin their work. That is the most plausible thing of all. An officer Is but man, and can not cover his entire territory at one time. He has to walk it..
 Then there are those who persist in misunderstanding the duty of police man. To some, he is everything un- der the sun which can benefit them, and If he comes up lacking in just one detail he is unfit for service and Judge | Lane and Chief Bodeker ought to h | fired for having him on the force. A I lady phones her husband downtown and tells him that Mrs. Jones' children | are fighting their children. The hus- l band rushes from the store and com | rnands the officer to go to Umpty- | umpth street and Steenth avenue The | officer refuses because he has positive orders from headquarters not to leave | his boat. This policeman also should | be fired from the force, because he is | incompetent. He should take orders from everybody who fancies that he l has been imposed upon by someone else l On rainy night MT. Smith phones the desk sergeant to come out and get Mrs. Smiths little pet poodle out of the storm sewer into which it has fallen and which is full of water. The desk sergeant refues because it is not in l his line of work and the next day ne | Is reported to those higher up. 1 Then there Is the pest who Is con- stantly telling the superior officers ] how to run the force. This man should | be shifted here and the other man should be sent elsewhere. Nothing is right and the superior officers do not | know their business.
 l These are a few reasons why the po- | | liceman is "cussed" Are these reasons unreasonable? No, of course not. Very