The evening world., 1920-12-20
A ACOMPETENT INDICTMENT.

IfA protest have forced Police Commissioner
Enright to a hasty revival of the methods of his
predecessors for rounding up bandits and thugs now
8festing the city,
lil Enright makes a show of rousing himself. He
3oeS It with snaN-in his letter to the Mayog-at
lths! he calls the 4concerted action on the part of
ldertain newspapers to enIbarrass this department
land to destroy its morale in the face of the dan
gerous conditions which have confronted us for the
ast three years.
ll This IS the first dime, be it noted, the present
Police Commissioners has admitted that the city is
bonfronted by dangeEous conditions.
ll How many citizens Ead to be robbed, blackjacked
sr shot before Enhglt made this admission?
His sudden change o'front is the result of fear
l It does not alter his character or his fundamental
Policies
IS It does not make him one iota more fit TO con-
pElnue at the head q New York's police,
Idl TIE city needs no more competent testimony to
ha. Enrigh rule has done to its Police Department
pthan the memoranda Police Lieut.. Floyd Horton
I'rrepared for The Evening World few days before
HIS heroic death.
s,,s The same brave hand that found strength TO do
rs last police duty as As owner lay dying with a
Iiklnmans bullet through his lungs, the same hand
iitha scrawled On blooistahed scrap of paper the
license number that led to the arrest Of the muir
hersrs in the bandits automobile, drew up what is
i.hy all odds the most powerful indictment yet pre-
bented of Hylan-Enrigit police administration.
ll Of Lieut. Horizons competence to indict there is
lliIo question. He was the finest type Of intelligent
ietficient police officer He had a:recosd of seven
ieen years on the force, with he special confidence
H every Police Commissioner from Francis "
lEreens to Arthur Woods.
Horton knew all the ns and outs Of the depart
ihent The businesslke, almost shorthand concise
mess of the points he set down against Enight
iestifies TO ihe Straightforward sincerity of the
Frier and his intimate grasp Of the conditions hs
twas discussing
,, Take only four Of his twenty-five counts;
w One thousand useless details could easily
lsi be abolished.
tffl to many useless details and e1-
w, cusals, precincts have been left for hours
81, and hours without single policeman
sit, post 1t is so serious a policeman dare not
illI tell his best friend Of true conditions.
Volumes could not show with greater cleaTess
how the Ennght policies left the citizens of New
tBcS- without adequate police protection.
Again:
lil Only influence counts. About every detec-
tive feels that hard work will bring nothing
Only pull counts.
Over 80 per cent of the force opposed
l.ii to Enright and all ne stands for.
b, There, in nutshell, is the effect Of the Enright
IlAstem Of favoriism on the morale Of body oi
linen who guard the public safety and whose frs
Assurance ought to be that intelligent performance
.lf duty, courage and faithfulness are the sureS
liarantees o. promotion.
n, Lieut.. Horton. whose devotion to duty was heroic
8as the kind Of policeman for whom Enhgn ha
lliO use at Police Headquarters. The present Polio
ommisdoner, unlike his predecessors, found NJ
pn6dential work for Horton Horton was recog
lhzed-like Costgan--as not in harmony with tn
Hnrgtt policies.
M II Is a shame for the New York police to have t
ave over them Commissioner who, by discreii
g policemen Of the Horton type lowers the stanc
his Of the force in The eyes of the public
Il is not the fault of the police as a body til;
iiizens have lost confidence in the department
\ The foroe includes plenty of brave, loyal me
4 Al, IL HI. 1