The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-10-01
CITY'S GAS USED BY POLICE
TO RIDE IN STOLEN MOTORS


| 937. eS. and six motor trucks. at a cost
of $40 70S, a total of $211. 4S9.45.
| "And in that connection I read FROM
the semi-annual report of the Police
Commissioner to the Mayor. first half
OF 1918, headed Automobiles Discon-
tinued. Seventeen automobiles were
dispensed with, decrease of SO PEI
cent. The upkeep of these machines
would amount to $6.375 in the first six
months, a decrease of 3S per cent
| "And then under the heading,
| Bicycles and motorcycles discontinued.
| On January l. 1915 there were on hand
| 2S3 motorcycles and on June 80 277, a
| decrease of per cent and in con-
trast with his statement in that re-
port as to decrease In numbers of
motorcycles and so on Is this record
as to the actual purchases by the de-
partment Is that correctT
| Yes, SIR"
Numerous contracts for small print.
ing jobs signed by representatives of
firms were introduced in evidence, and
one was disclaimed by Samuel Rabino-
| WITT, president OF the Burland Print
| ing Company. Samuel Weinstein, a
stakeholder In the same concern. de-
MED having signed two other requisi-
tons on record. The operation the
committee sought to develop was to
let small contracts without public let
ting and in numerous instances were
so let by rigging bids. This was done
by having one real bid put in and then
submitting others which were fictitious
and higher. The charter provides that
no contract for moro than $1,000 can
be given without public letting, and it
was charged this was gotten around
by splitting work into $500 sums.
| Brown Reviews Weeks Work.
In his summary of the committees
work for the week made just before adj
ournement was taken to next Tuesday
forenoon ex-senator Brown said:
Among the leading points estab-
! lishcd this week Is that the cost Of
policing piers In 1919 was SAL, SIC, 900,
while the police budget for the entire
city is only S2O662, 900. This cost of
watching on the piers amounts to ap-
proximately four times the gross rentals
received by the city from all the piers
| it owns.
THE evidence seems to me to carry
strong inference that this cost Of
policing the piers is in large part due
to higher police administration. For
instance, take the case Of Vachris
Vochris had the policing Of the piers
for the Italian companies for some
years and he found 1t impossible to
maintain order unless he could have
his watchmen made special patrolmen.
This was refused by the Police Cepart-
ment, and through Inspector Henry.
| Adam Cross, a former inspector of po-
lice. was put in charge, and his men
were Immediately made special patrol
men.
There is other evidence that the cost
OF poiicing the piers as they are now
policcd, is due to higher police admin
istration. I call your attention to the
resignation Of Hughes from the Police
Department and his almost immediate
! employment by 40 steamship companies.
an almost unprecedented thing where
he. All intimate Of the Commissioner Of
Police. could, in rapid succession, acquire
such retainers, resulting in a man Of
most moderate and limited means being
enabled to open three bank accounts, and
deposit in the brief time that he has
been engaged in that business hundreds
of thousands Of dollars.
THE suggestion carries here with
81 eat strength that intimacy with the
head Of the Police Administration carries
with it the command Of the watching of
the piers, and these methods furnish the
clue to the close business connection Of
tho higher officers of the police depart
ment with Wall Street.
Take, for instance, the gift Of $4,000
to E,nright; take Inspector Dryers
brokers' account. Take the gift Of his
secret acquisition of real estate. his
posing as William Leslie when he
visited the property, and his maintenance
| there. as his superintendent of his son
under the name Miller. What was the
motive for this? And shortly, while this
committee was in session the transfer
OF Dryers stock in the Park Realty
Company to his son, and the departure
Of his son for Bombay, and the inability
of the committee to reach Kendall the
nominal or real agent, If you will have
1t, although cannot but infer that there
is something about 1t which the COM
mittee is not welcomed to know.
Police Reserves Linked Up.
II wish also to point out to the COM
mittee that Warren Leslie was member
of the reserve police force that Candeau
is a member of the reserve police force,
aud the matter seems to have been man.
aged either through the police force or
through members Of the Police Reserve.
"As to dealing in margin. We have
the margin accounts that have been
offered here from Dwyer, from Dominick
Henry and others, and 1t is not whole
some pract1ce Tor members or the police
force to be dealing on margin in stocks
generally. So far as the evidence is now
clear before the committee there Is, ac-
cording to our experience, no other class
OF citizens of like salary who are able
to make any such investments.
mo man can watch the ticker and
watch the criminal at the same time. 1t
dctracts from his efficiency in pursuing
crime. in preventing crime. in protecting
life and In protecting property. If a
man be dealing with the ticker, and he
has considerable at stake. he is more
interested in the result of the market
than he is as to whether or not the crime
wave has risen higher in his district, and
If the market has gone down he is still
moro deeply interested than he is in any
other matter.
ut is my duty In this connection also
to call attention to the evidence as to
wire tapping. AS the evidence stands.
Suffer. the plainclothesman of Dwyer.
for months. at a cost Of thousands Of
dollars, was engaged in employing the
police force of the city to violate the
private condolences Of citizen in a pri-
vate litigation, one of the gravest Of
fences against PERSONAL rights that can
be committed. and during all of this