Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-12-05


derers in the fiscal year 1915 Shao q
was In any similar period In it, hiete!yN
There were committed in the Das0eoel
Of Columbia during the year - maf.
were made of persons held gunty fo3
the offense charged. In the twenty
fourth case the department made ~
arrest Of the man ,s held rsspo1as ,,n -
the grand Jury did not consider Tie
evidence sufficient to indict. Besida1
making arrests Of % Of the - Deesone'
held It for MURDERS MURDER e ann ne "a "a
been indicted for murder committed m
1912. OF the - murders. Of the pee~
sons killed were white and the 1ep
held guilty for the crime rim wsrS % ss e
cases both the person killed ana M
person held guilty OF tho crime wess
colored.
The total number OF arrests for a
1919 in 1915. OF this number $50
per cent were white as against B2.se
per cent in 1915, and 1880 per cent
were coiored in 1916 rs against A7S1
per cent in 1918.
An encouraging increase was made
In the percentage Of convictions. show
ing that the police are using greater
c. care In getting evidence CA ana "a, are not
the best Information that the laws have
been violated. OF the 3e.377 arrests
made in 1916. the percentage Of convio-
saai steu sns Of asa
as compared with 1919 in 1915 with
arrests numbering 37.219.
The percentage Of acquittals was only
4.s9 compared with 5.66 in 1915. and
the percentage OF cases nolle prose.
Quied was only 3.34 ~ compared with
4.37 in 1915.
The following is q classification Of
ho ass sn,esea undea the law
female. 3.975: read and write. 1891:
unable to read and write. 1000.
Estimate Of Losses and Recoveries.
Members Of the police department
were also successful in recovering .
larger percentage OF stolen. lost or
mislaid property than they have in
recent years.
During the fiscal year 1916. property
to the value of 1896. o87.34 was reported
stolen. lost. or mislaid. and OF this
amount 1904 .S46.97 was recovered. In
addition. however. there was recovered
by the department property to the value
of $50 ,255.39 which had been lost or
mislaid. but which had not been SO re-
ported to the police. Property to the
value of $541O.34, which had been
stolen in other jurisdictions. was also
recovered in the District OF Columbia
by the department. making the grand
total OF property recovered during tho
last fiscal year $290. 512.70. out of $780,
067. "a reported stolen, lost or mislafd.
In addition to this amount there came
into tho possession Of the police de-
partment property to the value OF ST.
3ss57. which was used as evidence in
the several courts in tho District OF
Columbia, $3,417.41 belonging to per.
sons alleged to be of unsound mind.
and $7.051.9S the value OF property boz
longing to the estates Of deceased per-
lx,ty, IN, fhA nfafr tot ~ Co1r hi
and which was taken In charge by the
members Of the police force, making
the grand total Of property delivered to
the chief clerk and property clerk In
accordance with law $311 .37066.
Mounted Service.
The officers mounted on motor cycles
and bicycles have continued their work
of enforcing the speed law during the
past fiscal year. and attempted in every
way possible to check reckless driving
Of automobiles.
The most dangerous type of reckless
driver. the man who Is guilty of run
ming an automobile while drunk. 10
being curbed by the revocation of his
license. During the fiscal year twenty
three persons arrested for driving an
automobile while under the influence OF
| intoxicants had their licenses revoked.
This action had to be taken in order to
prevent accidents and to prevent
drivers from killing themselves or
others when they were not in condition
to handle machine OF any kind. espe-
cially an automobile.
The traffic regulations in Washington
have been enforced literally. and In
cases of technical violations of law ofa.-
GERS have issued warnings instead OF
taking citizens to court. In cases or
persistent violation. however, or reck-
less driving which might have resulted
in injury to pedestrian or other
driver, arrests have been made to the
number of 11.048. as compared with
1915 in the previous year. The in
crease of 3,431 trafiic cases 10 due to tho
increase in the number OF motor We.
also the fact that the police depart.
ment had it's motor cycle equipment in.
creased from eight to eighteen ma
chimes.
Street Traffic.
Attention is called to the need for
the creation Of the position Of trah1o
captain, to be in command Of the tranic
branch of the police department. along
with lieutenant and three traffic SER
geants. in line with the organization OF
traffic work in other cities.
The great increase in vehicular trafiio
on the streets of Washington and the
increase of complex traffic problems
makes the creation of traffic branch
Of the police department more ana
more urgent
Trafic problems have increased dur.
ing the year as the ownership OF auto
mobiles has increased. Streets In sew
eral sections of the city which were
used very little now are important
traffic ways Traffic conditions In the
streets can be improved by further CO.
operation of the police and members OF
the engineer department. The study
Of the distribution OF traffic and the
study of engineering problems which
will make traffic flow easier becomes
more and more important.
Annual Automobile Licenses.
One of the most needed pieces OF
legislation at the present time is a law
providing for the annual licensing Of
automobiles. At the present time they
are numbered serially. starting with
No. 1, issued on October s, 1907
Many of the cars for which licenses
were given three to ten years ago are
now out of commission, and the number
tags of them are sometimes used IL
legally, These so-called dead num-
bers" cause endless amount OF con:
fusion to the police in tracing lost ana
stolen cars, and also are an incentive
TO some persons to indulge in certain
dishonest practices, such as selling
MARYLAND tourists coming into Wash.
m y1yh VIZ