The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-11-01
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

1 Editor of The Farmer, Sir:-In the
 campaign which The Farmer is mak-
 ing for 8 better workingmen's city
 and a, cleaner administration by the l election of Fred Mullins, the people s choice should one of the sore spots of the present regime be passed over l so lightly you have let the police
 system escape.
 In referring to the police I do not
 criticize that fine and capable body of
 men Individuality, as believe that the
 material in the ranks today is better than the average city the size of | Bridgeport but I condemn the system l inaugurated by puppets in the hands | of an administration coerced by the
 will of dictators financially more l powerful than was Nero in his palmi-
 est days.
 1 With an intimate Knowledge of po-
 lice affairs and many of the men, I
 would ask you and the readers of | your paper if they are aware that | burglaries in the city of Bridgeport
 average almost one night, a larger I average than ever before in the an | na1s of the city. Yet there are a greater number of patrolmen upon the 1 force than ever before.
 1 Are these two facts to be recon ci1ed 1 by the statement that the men are
 derelict in their duty? I shall answer l this myself by saying the men are | honest and efficient, but that with the
 present platoon system the city is not l as well guarded before owing to 1 the largeness of beats and the dis 1 satisfaction and lack of spirit which
 exists in the department.
 In factsI believe this spirit of dis
 satisfaction to amount almost to de- 1 noralization. There Is that lack of 1 interest in the work which comes af- 1 ter long years of faithful service and
 with record and merit ,unrec ognized. | The Republican administration has | placed at the helm of it's police de-
 partment men in commercial walks of | life, avid for power and who with out i that necessary qualification for gen 1 eralship acquired only by long years
 of intimate association with crime and l criminals I believe to have usurped | in many instances the actual duties
 devolving upon the superintendent of
 police who must. of necessity submit
 to the orders of his superiors. This
 can be demonstrated in no better way | than by a visit to police headquarters
 where at any time of day and night
 a lieutenant will be found struggling 1 with masses of detail record when | once filed never again sees the light | of day.
 It may be said that with all the | Capt. John H. Russell recommenda- l tions none have benefited the city and 1 the time is fast approaching when the
 flinsy shell of system must be
 abandoned and the real kernel of po-
 lice duty picked out.
 There is one closely guarded cabi- | net of records of complaint on file at
 police headquarters, which if ever | opened for the inspection of the pub | lie would show unprecedented list 1 of unpublished complaints of burglary,
 assaults and other crimes, that would 1 at once stamp the present admins | tration as inadequate to cope with the
 most necessary situation that con
 fronts the citizen-protection of his | life and property.
 l Should not the readers of your pa
 per be permitted to know where it's
 present officials are lax and have an | opportunity to remedy conditions at the polls by voting to abolish politi-
 cal dictatorship by a few.
 l CITIZEN.