New-York tribune., 1920-12-16
Cam Method of Entering
Complaints i'm a Small
Book Called Old Plan
to Keep Reports Clear
Woods Ordered
System Dropped
Statements by Cray and
Faurot Denying Police
Breakdown Explained

In his reply to The Tribune question
naire Commissioner Enright made pub
lie communications signed by Deputy
Commissioners Joseph A. Faurot
and John J. Cray, in which it was
denied that police records were doc
tored or that there was any break down
in the crime prevention and detection
machine built up by Arthur Woods.
The Tribune yesterday submitted
these letters to a man who served as
deputy commander of one Of the most IA
nous detective squads of the Woods
administration and who attained high
rank in one of the branches of Federal
service during the war. Here is his
answer:
at is very significant that Commits
sioner Enright and his deputies failed
to tell the public Of the existence of
the present system of keeping crime
records. They deny tha- there has been
any change in the method Of keeping
records-that the 'squeal book the
DD-4 and the Dds cards of the former
administration have been abolished
New Police Method
"But how about the can'?"
"'The can is the method by which
Mr.. Enright is able to produce statistics
showing that his administration is the
greatest in the history of the city, and
It is the means by which he is able to
tell New York, sore from being black
lacked by thugs at night and finding
their homes cleaned out, that there is
no crime wave.
Let me explain how the cam works
out.
Mr.. Jones walks into a station house
with a broken head after being held
up or to report burglary in his
home. Mr.. Jones isn't one Of the elite.
His complaint is registered on any
leaves the detective turns to his chief
and says:
"'What will do with this ?rF4-
ooh, put it in the can' is the an
swer.
Therefore instead of that complaint
going into the squeal book or blotter,
which is part Of the official Police De-
partment records, it goes into small
indexed book, SO that when the victim
returns after several days the detective
on duty can tell that the head of the
detectives felt that the case was not
worth working on. He is stalled along
until he gets tired going to the station
house.
Woods Registered Complaints
"'The can,' except for its name, is
nothing new. We used to use it before
Woods became Commissioner SO that
Headquarters could make fine show
ing on the annual report or if news
paper got rough. But when Woods
went into the big job we had to regis
ter every complaint that came to US.
Here's the way that happened:
"My partner, mighty good detec-
tive, had what appeared to be a petty
case, and he did not enter it in the
squeal book or blotter. The man hap
pened to meet one Of Woods's deputies
a short time later and told him of the
case. The deputy said he would check
up, and when he did he found no rec
ord, my partner was fined and trans
ferred and the new system was in
stalled.
"In his statement Faurot-and also
Cray-says that the DD-4 and the DID, 5
cards must be made out imm ediately
after complaint is registered and a
duplicate must be sent to Headquar-
ters. That's absolutely true, but
neither deputy told the public that
the DID, and the pD-5 cards are made
out from the squeal book, and not from
the can The cases entered in the
cam are not cases. In other words, The
Tribune was perfectly correct when it
said that unless the detective was con-
vinced that crime was committed and
that the victim might tell his story to
the papers the entry of his complaint
went into the can,' and not the regula-
tion record book.
Position Of Cray and Faurot
keep in mind, too that Cray and
Faurot are now deputy commission
ers, far removed from detective work.
and they emphasize in their letters to
the commissioners that the statements
they make are according to their
knowledge. In their present jobs they
have no access to the detective records:
ALSO remember that if FAurot and
Cray succeed in holding their jobs as
deputy commissioners for six month G
they will retire at a pension that will
exceed by 500 year the salaries they
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