The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-03
BARBER BUSHES ID . DEFEND POLICEMEN FROM CRITICISMS Commissioner of Public Safety Takes Rap at Sev-
 eral Industrial Men DECLARES POLICE
 FORGE EFFICIENT Favors Stringent Enforcement of Ordinances Against Automobile
 Speeders . Officers Doing
 Fine Work, He Says

Arlie Barber springs valliantly to the defense of the Birmingham police force, in response to the charges of several prominent industrial men that the police and the deputies are adding to the unrest of labor by persisting in making arrests for petty offenses. While the charges of the industrial men, included the work of the deputy sheriffs, the commissioner of publii. safety spoke for only the Birmingham police department After crediting the police force with having attained the height of efficiency, he decries the at- tttude of the critics who give "a few swift kicks improperly placed"
 The commissioner is of the opinion overspeeding automobile drivers, and shares the opinion, in a measure, of T. c. Mcdonald, relative to the junk busi- ness.
 His letter follows:
 BARRIERS LETTER
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 I note the statement in this morn- 'ing's paper which quotes J. c. Maben, Jr., vice president of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron company, as saying that the attitude that the police and depu- ties have taken against the negroes employed by the industries in Birming- ham is an outrage" He then goes or. to make other wild, extreme and radi- cal statements which are entirely out of order from a standpoint of the rec ords of the courts. He says, T think that the police should go after the real law violators instead of a few helpless negroes, who have done noth- ing to be locked up in jail" So far as arrests are concerned, every policeman understands that the good officer Is the one who keeps the best order with fewest arrests and he also under stands what some of those quoted in this mornings paper seem to fail to understand, viz: That there are no fees whatever connected with any arrests made by the police off, cers except in liquor cases.
 So far as arresting petty violators and allowing the others to go free or devoting more time to petty offenses than to major crimes MT. Maben prob ably does not realize that while the city of Birmingham or it's police re- ceive not one penny of compensation from the state or county for any or the work we do on felonies, not even turnkey or prison feed fees, that the 1916 report shows that while the grand jury of Jefferson county investigated only 1889 cases of all sorts and found only 1052 true bills for all offenses that in the same year the police officers of the city of Birmingham arrested 1191 persons charged with felonies which were turned over to the county and for which the city of Birmingham and those police officers received not one penny of compensation in any way except their salaries which the city of Birmingham paid in full
 POLICE DO THE WORK
 The 1916 records show that the coun- ty coroner investigated 5S cases of murder for the whole county, including Greater Birmingham; the police ot- fcers of the city of Birmingham ar- rested IS of these murders, although they operate in only a very smalr part of the county. Many people do not un- derstand that not one of these 1191 arr rests for felonies that our police off, cers made in 1916 could be tried or were tried in our police courts. Every one of them were turned over to the county as soon as the arrests were made. The only reward that the police officers and the city of Birmingham received Tor this WOrk Is the SatiS- faction of seeing criminal conditions in Birmingham greatly improved and the consciousness of duty well per- formed as well as a few swift kicks improperly placed from such men as j.. c. Maben. Jr., James Bowron and Wal ter Moore.
 Included in these 1191 arrests for felonies We find 114 cases of assault with in tent to murder, 230 cases burglary and grand larceny, 20 cases of embezzlement, 34 cases of forgery, 346 cases of grand larceny, 37 cases highway robbery, IS cases of murder, 10 cases of rape and fl cases of receiving and concealing stolen property This array of felonies should be enough to disprove the statements that the police force of Birmingham are devot- ing their energies to petty offenses and overlooking the more serious violators of the law.