The sun., 1919-05-30
THE CASES JAM COURT
Magistrates Denounce Com
missiOner's Methods and
Dismiss Most Charges.
FIND THEY ARE FLIMSY
Campaign Ascribed to Mayor
acknowledgements Time
Wasted in Trivialities.

magistrate Frederick r. House a,
wen as several other Magistrates who
.'aVe nad TO give up their vacations &c
heip MIN run the Traffic Court, have
oeen wondering for several davs 81,
the new and exceeding industry n, tbs
poiice Department in bringing before
,hem between 200 and 800 traffic vio-
'a'ors every day, almost all of whom I,
mas been found necessary to discbarre
because there has been little or no
basis for the summons.
They found out the reason vester-
day. when one of tho Traffic Court at
tendants picked up on the floor Of the
court room a typewriter order ad-
dressed to the men Of Trafflc Precinct
e. directing them TO make at least five
arrests day Of trafic violators. The
order was signed by Capt. John d.
Ormsby.
This discovery OF the manner In
which Police Commissioner Enrisbt is
conducting his crusade against motor
lists drew from Magistrate House. as
well as from Magistrate Cobb and
Chief Magistrate McAdoo, sharp criti-
cism of the methods employed and the
results obtained
The Police Commissioner issued his
orders for a campaign against viola
tors Of the motor vehicle laws in
obedience to a letter from Mayor
Hylan. This letter was made public a
few days after II leaked out that secret
orders had been given by the Commits
sioner to station a large number of
policemen on the Williamsburg Bridge
during the hours when the Mayors
limousine passed over the bridge TAX
ing him to and from his ONCE.
After enumerating the various Classes
OF offences which are covered by the
motor vehicle laws. the order found
Yesterday reads as follows:
You must serve at least hye sum-
monses day and as many more as
you please. Mix the violations. Each
man will consult the various violations
herein set down and try to make one
SUMMONS for each kind of violation.
Make daily reports as to what you have
accomplished to the sergeant
by direction of Capt ormsby."
MaEistrates Outspoken.
Magistrate House, who has earned
since the Inauguration Of the Traffic
Court three years ago reputation
for strict dealing with iayless motor
ISIS made no attempt TO disguise his
disapproval of the present state OF af
lairs and Chief Magistrate McAdoo
was scarcely less outspoken. Magistrate
House said:
Il am willing TO do everything in nv
power to aid the police in every way
ana to work as long and as late as my
physical condition permits to assist in
the amelioration of the dangerous con-
ditions which prevail In the streets OF
New York to-day, but / am unable to
understand how such an order as IN.
one which was issued by Capt. Ormsby
VIII do anything to make the streets
SAFER We have been handling in this
court Tor the last few days about $50
or ESQ cases day and about 200 OF
mem are not In any way connected with
the safety OF either motorists or
pedestrians.
'I do not believe that it Is a good
thing to say to a policeman You must
go out and get 80 many violations every
day. and the result of that policy ia
shown In the class OF cases which are
coming into this court by the hundreds
at the present time. For instance a
policeman stationed at the corner Of a
one way street will post himself a little
way up the side street so that he may
arrest drivers who have turned in the
wrong direction instead of d,rectine
them from the centre Of the roadway
against turning in the direction opposite
TO the one way traffic The men are
busying themselves with trivIalities
while important violations of the law 20
unnoticed
Then there is another bad feature of
a policy of this sort. Most motorists
have been accustomed to take a sum-
mons as very serious matter, but II
they are repeatedly brought here for
trifes they will regard the whole sub
tect In contemptuous way. What the
police are doing now does not make for
a solution of the problem which con-
fronts US here. that Is, to make the
streets Of New York safer"
Magistrate w. Bruce Cobb, who has
given up his vacation to help handle the
crowded calendar OF the Traffic Court
and who has been dividing the cases
with Magihrate House. expressed sim
liar opinichs. He said:
1T Is very evident that many OF the
presented at the present time
are strained. We are getting very few
Of the habituai offenders and many of
tho people summoned should only have
been admonished by the officer who made
the summons. i have had a number OF
men before me to-day who have been
driving cars for five. eight and ten years
md have never had violation Of the !
law charged against them before, and
10Th Judge House and myself have found |
l. necessary to make a very unusual
number of dlsmissals.
In addition to taking up the time of !
The Magistrates uselessly. these COM