The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-10
POLICE SYSTEM
 IN NEW HAVEN
POLITICAL MACHINE RESPONSE. BILE FOR SHADOW SIDE OF
 PRESENT SITUATION THERE
CAUSE OF LAX DISCIPLINE
Men With Influence At the Political Shrine Grew Careless In Their
 Work.

New Haven, Oct. 1O.-There is now 1 going on a ludicrous scramble for the latest sensation in the police depart
 ment. Perhaps there will be more 1 sensations. If some one would like
 real genuine sensation he might find l one if he could get the right author
 ties to talk. The trouble is the right 1 authorities won't talk because the | right authorities will hurt if they do. l The news now is not so much the talk about the retirement of Captain i O'Keefe and Sergeant Bergin and the | decision to try seven patro1Tnen for i drinking while on duty, or the mis- | leading report that a futile attempt l had been made to remove Captain
 Dunn from the head of the detective | bureau but the real news is the dis 1 cussion concerning the system
 the service to prosper in lax discip- | line, intoxication, r1ff1aniSm and other | unwholesome conditions and finally to | bring down upon the department the i saddest disgrace in it's history-the as
 saulting of a little girl by a patrol
 man in uniform and while on duty. 1 A conversation like this took place l yesterday:
 First Citizen: .who is to blame for
 the deterioration of our police de | partment?
 Second Citizen: Why don't you
 First Citizen: Who's the system % i second Citizen. h.,
 don't you know who the system is?S'
 First Citizen: 'I've heard"
 Second Citizen: "So have IT.
 First Citizen: Who did you hear?"
 First Citizen: That's right whatre
 you going to do about it?''
 1 Second Citizen: Don't know, guess we can't do anything.'
 1 On duty in the Grand avenue pre-
 cinct is patrolman who has carried l ie Shn do1~ fn noc | time. He is a child born of the sys tenn. He has relatives who are inn portant parts of the system. He didn't care apparently whether he
 did good duty or not. He didn't fear a call to them. if they got too fresh ' | was close to some one who could give
 This man staIked his beat-or certain | parts of it-each night doing practi-
 cally as he pleased.
 | The other men knew what he was
 doing. He was good example for
 them to follow. Why should not they
 take it easy, too? They were sup
 they did not have close relatives l within the sunshine of the systems 8
 shrine They did follow his example.
 1.strong" about it. but they lost their heads in the fancied lasting security
 of the system's power to protect. They l were not vicious men but were sus- cepttbIe to influence.
 Since the B1au girls case Mayor Rice has directed a commendable amount of 1 interest toward the police department. 1 Major Isbell of the efficiency commit | tee of the police board has been re- peatedly in conference with him and
 out for. good certain men who are un- 1 fitted by their behavior for police ! work. It is known, however, that the
 system is not taking kindly to some | features of the ftfumigation' and it's l attitude may precipitate a great deal
 of discussion and publicity. To save
 some of the men all sorts of strings
 are being pulled and the morale of the
 police department is lost sight of in | the feverish anxiety to save this one and that one.
 1 The meeting Friday night, when the men are brought to trial, will reveal considerable.
 Right here just small instance of | the neglect that had grown up in the department During the investigation 1 into the Blau case a Pinkerton detec- tive was drinking in the rear of alarm sounded. The policeman did not go out to get the box as he should have done but allowed the sleuth to do so. Of course the police man didn't know that the man was a Pinkerton. The latter returned after the fire, gave a. wrong number for the box and the wrong location for the box. The policeman entered this in formation in his book as received from who V1i1 will be tried tomorrow night His book is in the possession of the ef- ficiency committee.
 Somewhat lost sight of in the de- velopments regarding bluecoats is the situation in the plain clothes depart ment or detective bureau. For some three or four years it has been con sidered that the management of this arm Of the service has not been con- ducive to good results. The person neI of the bureau, although created largely through political influences. might with proper direction prove as effective as any force of it's size in the country. But here again comes in the system to create jealousies and lack of harmony. So serious has be- come this situation that outside de tectives may have to be called in to handle certain criminal cases. The question is, will the system stand in the way of placing the detective bureau on solid and effective work ing basis; will stool pigeons and fences be reduced to minimum or will they be allowed to thrive and ex- ist at a maximum under a misguided factor?