The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-26
AGAINST "POLICE BRUTALITY"
Denver Police Commissioner Opposed to the Use of Clubs and
 ReVoIvers

Denver. Oct. 26.-Take away the policeman's club.
 Prevent him from using a revolver unless his own life is in peril. Keep fat men off the police force. Apply plain Christian teachings to police problems.
 l George Creel, newspaper writer turn ed police commissioner of Denver, who has instituted a campaign to prove his contention that clubs and | revolvers are not necessary to the en- forcement of the law
 The first step in the commissioners | an order abol1shing the carrying of clubs by policemen. His second is | contained in the following order: "Any officer who beats or otherwise ! maltreats a prisoner must be prepared 1 to show Justification of absolute self defense under the penalty of discharge and future prosecution under the state law.
 stAny officer who discharges a. re- volyer at one whose crime is not known or in case where the known crime is less than a serious felony or l in the event his own life is not in per- il. will be dismissed from the force"
 To back up these orders. Creel has | accomplished the summary dismissal ! of Sergeant Dooley and Patrolman Joessel who recently shot and wound The latter shot Pike as he was run
 ming away in fright and the former beat the man as he lay prostrate on the ground.
 'I am taking away clubs because they invite brutality and are of no real 1se.'' said Greet to-day. ''In case of assault. the officer does not rely have always believed also that the po- lice should not carry revolvers. but [ am loath to eliminate them until we get an efrective law against gun Seil- ing and grn-toting.
 "As it is now, every pawnshop and hardware store finds proat in the sale because of this profit, these men killed a bill in the last Colorado legislature that w1uld have done away with the evil and lifted from the city the mem ace of frontier law1essless.,
 T mean to stop this thing of police brutality and reckless shooting if I have to discharge every man on the force. shall proceed to a reorgani- 1ation of the Denver force that will result in the dismissal of the brutal, the stupid, the crooked and the inefa- cient.
 '"The reason so many fugitives are fired at is because the officers are too fat to give chase. The reason so many ofdcers peat prisoners generally is be- cause they were appointed for politi cal reasons and have developed the autocratic sense. The reason they protect gamblers and law breakers generally is because they are accus- toned to a frank partnership with vice and crime.
 ''The very papers which are now ex- plotting police brutality were loud in their attacks upon me for "naudlin sentimentality." They could not con- tain their disgust at my attempt to apply plain Christian teachings to po- lice problems at4
 Cornnissfoner Greet also refused re- gently to issue an order forbidddng the Industrial Workers of the World from speaking in the public streets. He as- serted that such action would conSti- speech and that he did not care what the speakers said so long as they re- uaained within the bounds and did not violate the police regulations or create disorder The commissioner declared he did not propose to have a repeti- ton in Denver of what he said was the shameless brutality that had char acterized the trea atnent of the I. w. W. speakers in San Diego.