The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-22
EUROPEAN POLICE FORCES FREE FROM FAINT OF "THE SYSTEM"
 COMMISSIONER FOSDICK REPORTS
New York Official Following Study of Depart ments Abroad Finds No Evidences of Cor ruption, Though Men Serve For Much Smaller Pay Than Here.

the London Bobby is consistently drilled to treat the public with cour- tesy and patience. The calm, pa tient, undisturbed attitude of the London constable, sometimes under circumstances of the most irritating and provoking nature, has become proverbial. saw large squad of them standing unmoved and appar- entity unobservant, when well-aimed stones were being hurled at them by a group of strikers. When ordered
 to charge they did so. calmly and de-
 Hberately Scorning to use their
 truncheons, they rolled up their rub
 Der ponchos and with these weapons beat back their assailants. The dis
 order was efsectually quelled and no
 body hurt. A similar situation in
 Berlin would have meant bIoodshed
 and perhaps loss of life. have
 seen London 'I3obbys' handle with
 the greatest good nature and gentle
 ness crowds of violently disposed suf-
 fragettes. Now, lady I heard one
 of them say, as he picked his batter
 ed helmet from the ground, I don't
 want to make you any trouble, but
 if you do. that again I shall be obliged
 to take you into custody. Had the dignity of a Berlin Schutzmann been
 thus 1l1ffIed, I hesitate to think what
 might have happened to the assail
 ant. T am seventeen years on the force a London Bobby told me, land never once have drawn my club
 This remark reflects the prevailing spirit of the force.''
 The Continental policemen, almost
 without exception, are taken directly ] from the army where they have serv- ed as soldiers in the ranks. The
 English consta,bles, chosen from pri-
 vate life, come for the most part
 from the country districts and have
 only in rare instances served in the
 army.
 .srhis fundamental distinction finds
 its basis in the separate points of
 view from which, as we have already noticed, England and the Continent
 conceive the obejct and purpose of 1 a police force, In England, the po- 1 lice are civil employees whose pri-
 mary duty is the preservation of pub
 lie security; on the Continent, on the l other hand and particularly in Ger
 many mad Austria, the police force
 responsible to the Crown or the
 higher authorities rather than, to the
 people. The police problem on the
 Continent is chiefly a military prob l 1em,s whereas in England and Scot
 land, it is a problem of civil admin
 istration-'ss
 lI In Berlin; the men must have serv- ed nine years in the army. before they
 are admitted to the police force;
 Hamburg and Dresden demand a
 minimum of six years; Stuttgart, five 1 years; Budapest, three years. In Paris a candidate for admission to
 the police force must have reached
 the grade of sous-ofhcier in the army. 1 Army training for policemen has a 1 result which goes to the heart of the
 distinction between English and Con- I tinenta1 police conditions
 t With the rank and file of a po- lice force recruited from non-com- Tnissioned officers who have spent from six to twelve years in the army,
 a certain degree of indifference to the 1 general public tends to develop. The f German policeman is apt to lose sight of his function as a protector and I. guide and to treat the citizens as he was accustomed to treat the awkward
 squads of raw recruits whom it was I his duty to knock into shape during his career as an Unterof1zier in the army. Although the official orders
 make frequent reference to the ne
 cesstty for courtesy and kindness in dealing with the public. the German police, particularly in the larger cit
 ies, are at times unsympathetic even
 harsh. Traffic is handled in Ber- lin by dint of much shouting and some verbal abuse. A citizen who inadvertently perhaps disobeys a rule of the road is apt to be made the ob- ject of an impassioned denunciation
 audible for half a block. A German | policeman on patrol is armed as ii ; for war At night a Berlin Schutx. mann, in addition to El1is heavy short l sword, carries an automatic pisto, i strapped outside his coat, while the Dresden patrolnen carry swords
 pistols and brass knuekles. Nor are these weapons merely ornam ental. have myself seen a poor wretcf
 bleeding from saber cuts brought in. : to a Berlin police station for. a mis- 5 demeanor.'
 5 In the third place, the integrity o1 European police is ascribable to the
 fact that they are looked upon as } protectors of law and order rather l than as guardians of public nor. : als.
 7 'arhere is little attempt to make 6
 particular code of behavior the sub. ject. of general criminal legislation : The high moral standards of a, few people are not the legal requirement.. . of the state. Only occasionally ii there any movement to place upor : the statute books laws which serve only to satisfy the consciences o, those responsible for them. This i: 5 a subject worthy of more attention , than can be given in these pages. | strikes deep into the heart of the police problem. For mp1e, the public houses of London, within : fo1r-mile radius off Charing Cross, are : allowed to open on Sundays, by act O. } Parliament between the hours of and 3 p. m. and and II p. m. This particular provision, which from per 2 sonaI investigation I know to be gen orally enforced, meets with the ap 7 provaI of London's citizens. It is z : fair approximation to the tastes ana } standards of the majority, l asked a high official at Scotland Yard whose 3 name in this connection I am not a. : liberty to mention, what would be tn, s effect on the Metropolitan police force if Parliament passed a law pro 7 hibiting the sale of liquor on Sunday ? It would mean the demoraliZation O 7 the force he replied. We canno : guarantee the integrity of the police 3 against the vicious infiu ences arisinl g from unenforceable laws. In Der