The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-12-07
NEW YORK POLICE
 INVESTIGATION
Permanent Reforms Sought Not
 Graft Revelations
Conditions Disclosed by a Study of Methods = Perjurers Certified to the
 Force
Written By Staff Member of the New York Bureau of Municipal
 RcSearch.l

E
 New York Bureau of Municipal
 Research.
 tExcIusive Service The Survey Press Bureau.)
 Since July 15 New York's police de- partment has been under fire. On that
 date gambler, Herman Rosenthal,
 about to divulge to the district at htorney the relations between the
 gambling fraternity and the police,
 was killed. For his murder a police lieutenant and four hired assassins have been convicted.
 As a direct result of this murder the New York Board of Aldermen appointed a committee to conduct an inquiry into the Police Department Starting at time when the daily papers were filled with stories of yearly graft amounting to, millions of dollars and with statements that Becker was only a cog in the wheel and an underfing of men higher up'' in the system it would have been natural for an Investigating commit tee to turn it's attention almost whGtly to the hunt for graft and grafters. The only reference!to graft is in the testimony of the mayor who, in ex- p1aining certain policies of his ad- 1 rninistra ton. stated that he had out 1 lined these policies with the idea Of | decreasing or eliminating graft.
 ] To what, then, has the committee given it's attention?
 1 At the first hearing the mayor was questioned concerning policies of po- lice administration for which he was 1 responsible, and the methods he had used to ascertain how successfully the 1 policies had operated and what re- i suits had been accomplished through 1 them. Most of the other hearings 1 have been devoted to an inquiry into methods of selection, dismissal and ir-ni r1e+ot ot1,oo onIof of
 Below are some of the more inn 1 portant facts disclosed:
 1 Applicants for positions on the
 force either denied or forgot ar- 1 Tests for bigamy, stealing, homi- 1 eide, gambling, seduction, disorder I ly conduct, assault, etc.
 They told other lies as to prev 1 ious employment, reasons for dis charge, date of birth (incIuding 1 forged certificates fearing that the 1 truth would prevent appointment.) 1 The investigating bureau of the l police department which had un- l covered the bad records of the ap- i pIicants and proven them perJurers | was abolished.
 The civil service commission at the time the Investigating bureau was abolished was not equipped to conduct proper character investi- gationS.
 Men under charges were allow ed to resign @'of their own free wiH,'' thus retaining a clean rec ord and eligibility for appointment to any other department, or for | reinstatement .cOpS' within year.
 l Rehearings have been ordered
 in cases which the charter says
 shall not be rehearei. One dismiss
 ed officer who had been out for nine years, was reinstated after he | E.< THxy fE1aF <srNv l missioners, and by the Court of
 Appeals, which declared the dis 1 missal 'fpFeper' and the man l without legal rights"
 All of this seems far removed from
 an effort to locate the grafters who 1 it is claimed have been collecting
 millions of protection money annual ly; but closer analysis impresses one
 with the superior merit of the meth ] cd the committee is pursuing. It is important to find the grafters and put them off the force, but it is vastly more important to analyze methods which permit a Becker to get on tht force and once on to remain with out detection. If there is a system" it is important to smash it and To- cate it's beneficiaries, but it is of more lasting importance to get facts on which organization and methods can be developed which will make it in creasingly difficult. if not impossible. for the system" to live. The committee is getting these facts. No matter how efficient or how honest the head of the police department may pe if the system of selecting new patrolmen is such that criminal and perjurers become police officers. he cannot prevent the devel- opment of graft. Rigid discipline is essential to efficient police admins tration. Many go so far as to" say that in order to maintain proper dis cipIine no dismissed officer should ever be taken back on the force. If, then, rehearings are ordered contrary to law; if men who should be dis missed are permitted to resign; If reinstaten entS are made in cases where men were dismissed for lying to superior officers. sleeping on duty, falsifying records, etc. discipline can not be made effective. These are facts on which constructive measures may be based.
 To get a basis for a thorough and lasting solution of the problem there remains vast amount of work to be done. The police problem in the past has been attacked sporadically. There has been. generally, not only in New York but throughout the country, failure to view the problem compre-I hensive1y. Attention has been cen tered on particular phases. usually on graft and crime growing out of police i connivance with those who find it profitable to break the law. Respon- sible officials and the public have often confused cause and effect, 1 [ thinking that by removing superficial sym ptorns. permanent cures could be effected
 Another mistake has usually been i made in failing to study any agency i for enforcena ent of law other than the | police department. Other agencies, | such as the courts, probation officers, ] district attorney, reformatory iustitU- | lions. prisons, excise department, etc., l bear a relation to the control of vice i and crime as important in some rs-