The Detroit times., 1911-01-30
MORE POLICEMEN
ARE NEEDED BADLY
Commissioner He Says He Must
Have 200 More If Streets Are To
Be Patroled Properly.

Police Commissioner Croul is asI;
ing for 200 more policemen in his est.
mates, which will be sent to the con
troller within a few days, but he
doesn't think that the additional meo
should they be granted, will give him
any assistance In bringing about q
more stringent enforcement OF the
liquor laws.
We are now making all the Om
plants necessary against saloons and
IL is not our fault that the offending
saloonkeepers are not punished" said
the commissioner.
However, We are In great need oil
more patrolmen. Detroit has grown
rapidly, as everybody knows, during
the past few years, and yet IL Is d
fact that we have no more men patrol
ling our streets today, when We have
AZ square miles of city territory than
when We had only 27 square miles. II
Is true that We have been given moro
inen. 10 and Is at different times, but
they are being used for special work
For instance, We are now keeping
minute-men, men who answer emery
ency calls with motorcycles, I'm the
different stations; the board of health
Is using five men now, where il used
to have but two, few years ago, and
special men are on duty In many
other ways and places. The growth
Of the city simply demands that we
give up these men for special ser.
vices. Then there are always men
on furlough. the law giving each
man 20 days a year.
III there Is anything which hurts
me II Is to have citizen call on me
and say, L haven't seen a patrolmsn
pass my door In such-and-such a
period of time Now know that thas
may be true. for the simple reason
that we haven't men enough to patrol
all the streets. Yet, the protection OF
the city Is better now than IL has ever
been before: the flying squadron rs
doing excellent service, and the mir
ute-men are proving most serviceablc
For instance, a timid woman, whose
brother was away on a travelling trip,
telephoned for a policeman, the other
night, when she heard burglar try
ing 10 break into her home. The
Ininute-man from the nearest station
was at her home within 2 1-2 minutes
from the time the call was received.
He didn't catch the burglar, for the
reason that he ran away before the
officer arrived.
I'm addition TO having the flying
squadron and the minute-men, we
are asking for three more automo-
biles, smaller than the one used by
the flying squadron. We want 10
place these smaller autos in stations
in the outskirts OF the city. They are
needed there because too much time
Is lost when the downtown flying
squadron has to make long trips.
BY the way, the flying squadron
has taken the place OF the old horse
police wagons to a large extent. The
wagons are now used as police an
balances. The men on them are
schooled to give first aid to the in
iured. The wagons also carry jacks,
for the purpose OF raising street cars
to remove pinioned victims, not dc
pending on the ID. U, X. TO make the
rescue. Only the other day the po-
lice jacks were used to release man
from under a street car. | believe
that a metropolitan police departing at
is meant TO do more than simply look
after crime, and ! want to make the
Detroit department as useful to the
citizens as IL Is possible TO do so.
want one of the proposed new autos
for use as sort Of ambulance on the
boulevards. We worked with a loan
ed one last summer and We cared for
many accident and sick cases.
ION the whole, the men OF the de-
partment made splendid showing
last year, and I am proud Of their
work. The men, in fact, showed more
energy than ever before"