The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-08

whereby the police may be rendered more
useful in preventing men and women from
becoming criminals rather than in cap
turing them after offences have been COM
mitted.
French Provision.
The distinction between the preventive
and the punitive functions Of the police
are more clearly recognized in France
than elsewhere. There a system of regis
tration is maintained which enables the
police to supervise the movements and ac-
Invites of every citizen and stranger; but
as DR.. Leonard F. Fuld has pointed out
in his elaborate study of police organiza-
tions here and abroad Police Administra-
tion, by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 19O9), Eng
lish speaking people have such great
love of liberty that a system of registra-
ton of all the inhabitants of country
like that maintained in France and Ger
many would be impracticable in Great
Britain or the United States. In Eng
land the extent Of the registration re-
ouirement in time of peace is the obliga-
ton Of persons who have been convicted
of crime to keep the Home Secretary in
formed of their whereabouts and conduct
after being released from Imprisonment.
"In America, on the other hand" says DR..
Fuld, I'VE believe in giving the released
convict an unfettered opportunity to start
life anew, even though we know from ex-
,o& NJ looct couonf ~ -Gya 0ut of
every hundred will be back in prison in
the course of few years."
The avowed purpose of Commissioner
Woods in giving his modest volume to the
public is simply to tell Of some of the
things which he and his subordinates
learned and did in New York during the
term of not quite four years in which he
had the honor of serving the city as Pc.
lice Commissioner.
Hunting New Methods.
ave learned" he says, "that most
crimes are not hindered by the conven-
tional methods Of police protection, and
we tried while cleaving to conventional
methods and steadily improving them
to-, devise new methods which should
tend to complement the older ones" They
became convinced that to some extent at
least the police could not only keep Grim
inals from committing crime, but could
keep people from becoming criminals, or
in other words could diminish the supply
of offenders at its source. This problem,
however, is manifestly more difficult than
any other with which the New York police
have ever attempted to deal.
An illustration of what can be done in
this direction is furnished by the case Of
a skilled mechanic who was arrested by a
patrolman one winter afternoon for
throwing a stone through a plate glass
window. The man made no attempt to
escape, but submitted quietly to arrest.
His misconduct had been induced by
direct poverty. He had wife and two
children and was earning good wages
when the concern for which he worked
dismissed half its employees and he lost
his job.
In vain had he sought another. His
savings were gradually exhausted; he
had borrowed all he could, and he had
reached the point where his family were
suffering from cold and hunger and he
was powerless to help them. Hence, in
sheer desperation, he had picked up a
stone and hurled it through the window.
How They Saved Him.
OF course it was wrong, but it would
have done no good to upbraid the offender
The police did better. The captain Of
the precinct sent fuel, clothing and food
to the wife and children; he gave the
prisoner i good meal and sent him out