New-York tribune., 1919-02-12

trade and are acquainted with the
faces and the figures of the principal
operatives, he will be apt to forcgo the
temptation even of large and careless
crowds in that city and will cleave to
other towns where the police are not
so fussy about protecting property.
And if criminal of any kind. feels
that the detectives of any city are a
relentless lot of spol-sports, who
won't be good fellows, who will keep
everlastingly on the trail of the law
are featuring the crime, but after it
has been forgotten by all except the
poor family whose savings OF years are
stolen, or by the stricken widow and
children of the murdered man, months
and years after-the criminal will
be apt to shun that city.
There are crimes that were done in
New York years ago which, though
dead as far as the public memory of
them goes, are just as living in the
files of the Detective Bureau and in
the minds of the detectives working
on them as they were twenty-four
hours after they were committed.
Efficient Force Is Needed
These are the conventional police
methods of preventing crime, and they
are good methods: To give them a
reasonable chance of success, in the
first place sufficient number of
policemen is required. 1t is impossible
to lay down any fixed ratio as to the
number of policemen a city should
have. 1t might be thought that OBJ
servation and experimentation would
enable an expert to come to the con-
clusion that in large city one police
ho 70
hundred, or thousand, or fifteen hun
dred of the population.
Other factors, however, besides the
size of the population must be given
at least equal consideration, such as
mileage OF streets, the currents in
which the population floats, the char
acter of population, the difference be-
tween the day population and the
night population-lower Manhattan,
for instance, and Brooklyn - the
amount of traffic in the streets. Then,
gain, We must realize that scientific
/ policing of a city is comparatively a
new phenomenon in our American life
and that whereas with present
methods police forces may seem too
small in number, yet when sounder
methods are devised a smaller number
! Of more efficient men may do the work
! better AS things stand. we must judge
largely by results, and if the uniformed
force Is to Nert the preventive press
ure which we expect it to do, there
must be enough men for this particu-
lar method of crime prevention. street
patrol being d form Of policing which
from its very nature calls for large
number of officers.
Uniformed patrol OF the streets used
to consist simply of having policemen
assigned to posts and required to stay
on them, walking up and down in q
prescribed way have always be
lieved that the largest amount Of free
dom of action and of discretion, con
slstent with proper control, should b.
given to the individal officer. He works
alone without superiors at hand tC
whom he can look for orders; he is
in full control. within the limits of hi.
post, Of protecting the. lives anc
property of people who live there OF
pass by.
He should not be tied up with minut.
instructions, or confined to narrowly
prescribed methods, but should bt
given latitude for action commensu
rate with his responsibility, and then
be held TO results. The old methods
not merely gave him less discretion
but enforced the same scheme of patro
throughout all parts of the city, in
! respective Of. the peculiar character
istics of different ghborhoods an,
neighborhoods in big modern cite
vary radically in character and nee,
different police treatment.
t. In the "Wilds of Manhattan''
Y One afternoon, for example, | wa
4 out on trip of inspection coverin
t the whole island of Manhattan Dun
: ing the early part of the afternoon
: was in the crowded lower East Side
7 and went the whole length of Rivine
2 ton Street, which is one of the world
c most densely populated streets. hav