The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-06
MOOT COURT STAGED TO TRAIN POLICEMEN
Crimes Are Enacted at Head quarters to Teach Proba-
 tioners What to Do.

New York, Nov. 6.-Comm mmissi oner Woods is conducting moot court at Police Headquarters to fami1iarize probationary policemen with court procedure. Although moot courts have been held in the past at Head quartes, they have never been made so realistic To-day the probation CTS are sent into the streets to en- act the cases which later ae brought to the court for trial. In order to get the evidence for these cases they act out on the streets supposed rob- berries and assaults. This enables them to present at court a vivid men, tai picture of their cases.
 The sessions of the moot court are held in the trial room at Headquar- ters, which is made to resemble a. Magistrates Court. Chief Magistrate William McAdoo or a Ldeutenant-in- | structor of the School of Recruits plays the part of the Magistrate. 9th CT policemen take the part of lawyers and court attendants. The cases en- acted are those that g, policeman en- counters almost daily in the perfor- nance of his duty Some of the most common cases heard are .disorderly conduct, carrying concealed weapons, assaults and robbertes, grand and pet ty larcenies, burgIaries, suspici ous Josthng. unlawful entry, and peddHng without a license
 The actors in the police dramas are divided into small squads. A cast of seven is ordinarily sufficient for one of these dramas After the cases to be enacted have been decided upon, Inspector Cahalane, head of the Po- lice Department Training School, takes the squads into quiet streets and neighborh hoods where the proba- honers can stage their dramas with, out attracting attention. If they are to enact a burglary, they obtain the consent of a. store proprietor to go through the farce of robbing his place. The policeman playing the part of the thiaf then pretends to finn my the door. After this he enters the store, and later departs with some clothing. On leaving the store he is seen by 8 policeman. The thief runs, pursued by the bIuecoat and probationers playing the part of wit nesses. After a chase the police man captures the supposed thief. The prisoner is taken to Headquarters, where the arrestfng officer makes out 9 complaint against him. The case is then tried at the moot court.
 The probationers on taking the wit ness stand are placed at the opposite end of the hall from the Magistrates bench. This is done to teach them to speak clearly and loud. Police men on taking witness stand for the first time in a real court are some lA41AeS SS110O W1lnz stage IT1gnC, ana as a result of this make a poor showing before the Magistrate. The Magis- trate at the moot court dispenses jus uce the same as in 3. real court He decides cases strictly on their merits If the arrestings policeman and his witnesses have made out a weak case. he discharges the prisoner The policemen enact these dramas so quietly in the streets and byways that passersby never notice them.
 If we attracted the attention of the public, 2 an instructor at the po- lice school said, Eve would not act our eases on the streets. We are not playing for the movies, and whatever we do we must do as quietly as pos- sible- The moot court has been of great benefit to the probatfoners. It teaches them what constitutes evi- dence, what is relevant and what is not, and how to testify in a court of justice