Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-29

population it is manifest that in grow
ing city like this the population increases
and the number of units. therefore, for
population will increase and, therefore,
the number of your police force should
increase with the increase of population.
The population increases here, l believe.
5000 year. At the present time our
population. according to a police census
that was taken in the interest of the
health department, is $4,000. practically.
Now; YOU can figure for yourselves
what that unit of population should be
per policeman. You are better qualified
to do that than I am. Gen. Bingham in
New York, and his successors figured
that there should be somewhere in the
neighbOrhOod of three policemen to a
thousand of population. If it is three to
a thousand. then that unit of population
Is :'3:; to one policeman. But whatever
that is, say 1T is 500. an increase of popu-
lation demands an increase of the protec-
tive force for those people. it would nee
eSSarlly demand an increase of policemen
per annum. In the last eight years we
have added to the force twenty-five po-
licemen, and in that eight years we have
had a very material increase in our popu-
lation. and whether you take unit of
population of 1913 or 800 as equaling one
policeman 1 think you will find that that
Increase of population of more than 30,-
coo justified us in having more than TWEEN
ty-five policemen 70 rthose eight years.
ION the other hand, you may take the
unit of area and calculate the number Of
policemen per unit of area. The area re-
mains fixed. When you come to consider
the Urea in this police jurisdiction we
stand fourth out Of fifteen municipalities
reported upon by the census bureau of
over 100000 population New York. Phila-
delphia. Chicago and New Orleans have
greater police jurisdictional area than we
have. We stand fourth, SO thct We should
not be reduced, compared with the
other eleven cities that have a smaller
juriSdictional area than We have. since
for the same patrolling force we must
necessarily have larger beats. and there
fore a lesser measure of protection to per-
sons and property. We should not be
duced certainly, as compared with them.
Now, as to what should be the number
of policemen per unit of area again you
are better qualified to judge than l am.
Considers Mileage Unit.
There is another unit which You can
consider, and which l consider more i'm
portant as a measure of the protection
which life and property should have than
any other and that is the mileage unit:
what should be the mileage Travelled by
a patrOman in order that he may give
sufficient protection to property and per-
sons along his route? Manifestly, If he
passes given point once in SO often
that is a reasonable measure of the eff
cheney of protection to persons and prop
eIty WltHlIl Ills peat. IL lie IluSt pass
oftener than that to afford reasonably
efficient protection his mileage must be
lessened, and if his mileage is 1essened
the force must be increased il the whole
area is to be efficiently protected.
Then. there is situation which
neither the unit of population. the unit
or area, nor the unit of mileage can
comprehend. That will be in the bust
ness districts, where. perhaps. there is |
little population, no great comparative |
area. but great values to be protected:
banks and merchants carrying valuable /
stocks, where the population, perhaps. is |
small. and where the values require that |
policeman shall pass any given point |
very frequently, and therefore that his |
beat shall be as small as will enable him |
to pass often enough to give an efficient |
measure of protection.
For obvious reasons more efficient |
protection is required at night than in |
the daytime, and that brings up the
question of organization. | believe 1t is |
felt by some that our orsaniZat ton is not |
as good as it ought to be. Our organi-