The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1912-09-11

or anybody else to ascertain that it was
untrue or did you know OF your own knowl-
edge that II was untrue? A. knew very well
il was untrue.
y Did you know al that time that II
was not true that the force was demoralized
and that the law was not being enforced?
A. | know | came in and took possession
of u demoralized police force as Mayor.
md ! went to work sy-temiticllly TO do
the hest could to lick /, into shape, and u
took lime. II all took time. | am not through
YET. II would take all of my time. | sup
pose the decent people Of the community
remember what ! have done TO llft up the
police force. tertainly those who have
lived here for any length Of time have taken
note Of 1t. and very wei too began before
| was Mayor
Asked if he inaugurated any "indfpend-
ent invest igat ion" 10 learn what condi-
tions were at that time. The Mayor said
he did not know what an independent
invest iga; ion" was. To Mr.. BuCkner :
quest ion whet her the Mayor had The same
system of keeping touch with vice con-
ditions III the ciy that H. had irfora
Deputy comm issioner Bugher resigned.
the Mayor replied If you say so"
Making Changes All the Time.
Pressed further. he replied -Of cours.
! have not I have a new s,aff and a new
Police tomms-ioner and changes of all
kinds" Mr.. BuCkner persisted in trying
to- find our whether OF hot there was a
new system
What new syst EN-" the Mayor re-
tor;ed. The law establishes the syst en-
] have changed things const ant ly. or the
N
from week 10 week and month 10 month
all sort $ Of safeguards All the time some
thing new has been done.
Mr. Buckner persisted. putting his
quest ion in Il different form.
Q For example. have you any method d
now OF ascertaning from your own Once
the conditions Of the Police Department or
conditions in the city generally which YOU
did not have Al the time commissioner
Baker resigned! 4 | have answered that
all ! intend TO. ! have a Commissioner Al
the head OF every depart msnt appoint
a man that ! have thorough confidence in
and guess the whole community saw
appointed good LOT OF them. TOO. iThis
government good or bad is in my possess
sion and not IN your possession or in the
possession OF anybody outside the Mayor :
ONCE that community knows everything
But OF course ! can give very little time TO
the details OF any departments, | APP
point, say. thirty six heads OF department,
and give each one all the time l can Since
| was hurt ! have not been able To do as
much as did before. but | certainly have
not spared myself.
=. You have not given tho Police DE
partment then any unusual personal at
tention or interference in any way' A.
don't know what you mean by unusual.
DO you mean such a. some other Mayors
ave bef ore I came in'
Mr.. Buckner put his explanation Of the
question in three other questions,
inquiring whether or not the Mayor had
called men to his Office without the Com
missioners knowledge to examine them
with regard to clubbing; ordering trans
fers peremptorily without the Commits
sioner's knowledge. or appointing deputy
commissioners without consulting the
Commissioner. To all these the Mayor
replied in the negative.
Nor did the Mayor think that he had
paid particular attention to the decrease
OF crimes Of violence as distinguished
from other grimes. He did not recall
ever directing tho Commissioner Of Ao-
Commissioner was being imposed on
by his subordinates in the matter OF
reports, nor had he ever heard OF any
practice OF not reporting crimes reported
to the station house in order to mako the
statistics better.
Q. Woulo you be surprised 20 learn that
after remaining stationary for eight years
burglary insurancre has Increased IS per
cent. during the last twelve monthsY A. I
won't express any surprise or any oriniOn
about anything nor do ! take your word
for the truth of any such statement.
Commissioner Absolute Head.
In reply to a question regarding tn e
freedom ne gave his police commissioner
in running his department Mr.. Gaynor
said that the Commissioner was the head
OF the department and had free hand
in the administration OF 1t. Commits
sioner Baker, he said, was present when
he interviewed number of policemen
in the Mayors office or else Mr.. Baker
sent them in, The Mayor continued:
HE might not always have been pres
ent. | reoollect hs was sometimes pres
ent. do remember from the first month
| was Mayor, the first thing said W when
| became Mayor, ! would do away with
the lawleesness and violence of the police
force in this city. ! took that up and
did away with II too There are a lot of
other things did, but l am not able to do
everything at once. l have to bide my
time and act az best can, That was the
{ time that the men dubbed They thought
nothing of going to your house, smash
ing your front door in and ransacking
your house. | called them in for that
and for these lawless things that they were
taught to do. II that is what you have
reference to, that is what ! did on that
subject
Odd your experience show that these
policemen misunderstood you and be-
came demoralized and refused to use their
clubs even when necessary because of
the interference with the Police Commits
sioner? Al know OF no such thing
II is not necessary TO use club except to
protect yourself, l do not think they mis-
understood mo at all. think they we'll
understood me. The result shows II. Now.
must say once for all will have TO with
draw from this line OF examination il II
-onttnues. l came here: l suppose you had