Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-01-08
coRTELYoU AND THE POLICE


IF YOU would know man in whose
life there seldom has been peace or a
hope of peace, go out and shake hands
with any uniformed member of the De-
partment of Public Safety.
The Police Department has been shame
lessly used. 1t has been the tail of every
political kite flown by the buccaneers Of
municipal politics. 1t has been man
handled and debased. It has had to an
swer for the sins of one inefficient admin
istration after another. Even well-mean-
ing people in moods of furious disgust
strike out blindly at bosses, Mayors or
the shadow of corruptionists, and, when
they miss, as they always do, comfort
themselves with fervid denunciations of
the police. There has grown up delu-
sion that job on the force is bed of
roses, an assurance of ease and easy
money.
1t isn't. In one year the members of
the department are bullied and harassed
and robbed and assessed and ordered
to do things that are unseemly or illegal.
They must obey or quit. After another
turn of the wheel these same men are in
formed that they must not do these
things if they wish to escape the political
equivalent of shooting at sunrise. The
easy-going public looks on and listens,
slightly amused, slightly cynical. The
average citizen forgets that the loss of a
job means to a policeman just what it
means to anybody else. 1t is a matter
that profoundly concerns a family and
children. Most men do as policemen do.
They obey the orders of superiors rather
than quit their jobs in rebellion.
Director Cortelyou's address to the po-
lice yesterday was admirable in tone.
And it was relief to find that the new
administration isn't intent on raids or re-
prisals among the men who were forced
by circumstances to be allies of a losing
faction. The vast majority of the police
are sef-respecting citizens who happen
merely to belong to service that has
been neglected, abused and consistently
misrepresented and misunderstood. What
the department needs is man who will
be able to understand the human equation
as well as the technical requirements of
police work.
Such a man Mr.. Cortelyou appears to
be. Unquestionably he will find profess
sional slackers and incompetents here
and there and they ought to be removed.
But so far as political factors are con-
cerned, bygones ought to be bygones.
Police inefficiency is one of the oldest bat
tie cries of reformers. The police have
been demoralized. But who can remember
when in an emergency the police-and
that means the men of the districts as
we'll as the always efficient mounted and
traffic men--have been actually ineffi-
cient?
The rank and file are, as matter of
| fact, accustomed to hard work out of
hours without extra pay. They have
manifested an extraordinary ability to act
quickly and effectively whenever the
need arises. Boss-ridden, bewildered and
hindered by the innumerable petty inter-
ferences of heelers apd ward dictators,
they have yet managed to keep fairly
good order in the city despite the new
crop of petty criminals who have oper-
ated since the war in all the Atlantic
states. There is room for improvement
in the police service and there is need
for additional men.
Director Cortelyou is clearly sincere in
his promise to cut the service free from
politics. He will be wise to fight for his
men, to get better pay for them and to
depend on the spirit of loyalty which his
policy is sure to inspire and to try a
building-up experiment before he begins
to tear down. The police are average
men. They will be quite as honest and
efficient, as a rule, as they are permitted
to be.