The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-03-25
THE POLICE INVESTIGATION

The investigation of the police de.
partment that is being held by the
Salt Lake council, draws attention anew
10 the difficulty of convicting offenders
in certain misdemcanOrs, such as are
committed in secrecy. rs presumed in
the so-called red light district 1t is,
of course, fact that such ofrenses are
committed with the utmost privacy, and
unless something unusual occurs, it is a
battling procedure to undertake to get
absolute. convincing legal evidence, The
rule of law. which presumes innocence,
even in such cases, is clearly one that
is inapplicable to them. The presump-
tion in such cases, as a matter of fact,
is of guilt, and not of innocence. Still,
the law presumes innocence. and by
reason Of that presumption, offenders
that are known by general repute and
through circumstances to be guilty, are
able 10 escape.
The city council on Thursday evening
practically an arraignment Of Chief
Barlow. The City Attorney, Mr.. Din
inny. claimed that he had not been
faithfully supported by the police de.
partment, and brought a good deal of
force and evidence TO sustain his charge
AT the same time, Chief Barlow made
fair showing in that he pleaded that
his force was not large enough to allow
Of the immediate service of large num-
bers of warrants in such cases. And by
reason of the very presumption of inno-
Conce winch W, have mentioned he was
unable to irocuce the evidence that was
necessary 10 convict.
The former rule in this city under 9th.
er Jurisdictions was directly the reverse
Of that which now prevails. In former
times the police dealt with offenders
Of this kind on the presumption that
the cffenscs were committed and that
those charged with the offenses were
guilty. IL was very rare that any de-
NAL was offered, the presumption Of
guilt being tacitly confessed That,
however. was system which amounted
to licensing the vile traffic under the
disguise of monthly fines. This month.
ly fine was practically fee which Ell.
titled the offender to ply her calling
for another month unmoested The
moral sense of the community revolted
AZ this, and so the American party put
into effect the usual and common law
procedure with its presumptions and its
legal safeguards. The result is, that no
one is now supposed to be guilty, but
everyone is supposed to be innocent.
And, while the public generally is con-
vinced of the guilt of the accused, it
is quite another thing to legally prove
that guilt.
We do not see that there was much
progress made by the cityacouncil but
there is an absolute certainty of this,
that no public official has the slightest
authority under the law to estab blish
any such place as red light district.
or to protect anyone in the pursuit of
vice therein, The oaths Of all officials
are, that they will see that the law is
duly executed, and will support the law
and the constitution. That is something
that has to be taken literally, and with
cxactness. There is no escape from the
! duty of an official under his oath, to
enforce the law; and we trust that, il
any official has been under any misap.
| prehefsion with regard to this. that he.
1 VIII wake up and realize the wrong no