The Washington herald., 1921-08-06
coNTiNI,Ep FROM PAGK ONE.

court anu uepfifSu W seHeh iSSN,
and that these thousands of
offenders against the traffic laws
are partly encouraged by the small
penalties imposed upon them and
ny the consideration they receive
in court. g..
The effect of Commissioners Oys-
ter's letter, whether so intended or
not, was TO create the impression
that the police department. in an
effort to clean up traffic .condlu ions
and put stop, to the reckless drty-
ing which has been INDUCED In for
so long a time upon our streets,
acting under the orders and direc-
tions Of Commissioner Oyster. has
been waging a war upon traffic vio-
iaters: that during the months Of
say and June they arrested almost
5000 of these offenders, 1888 of
,.nom were speeders, and vigorously
prosecuted them in the Police Court.
and that Commissioner oysters ef-
forts were rewarded by having the
Police Court judges keep his men
all day in court. and that the judges
imposed such small penalties upon
these fragrant vioiators of the law
and extended them such coRsidera-
tion in cosrt that they were partly
the law, and that the Police Court
Judges are, therefore, responsible
for the conditions existing from
day to day upon our streets, and
that no censure or blame Is to be
attached TO the police department.
Letter every Unsatisfactory.-
Traffic cases are tried in the Dis
trict of Columbia branch of the
pnli4A hrSAi1infr in
this court all during the month of
May and a portion OF the month of
June I addressed a letter to Com,
missioner oyster on July IL 1921,
asking il he was correctly quoted
| in the aforementioned article and
requesting that he furnish me with
any facts within his knowledge
which would support the charges
contained in his letter to Senator
| Underwood. Commissioner oyster
admits that he was correctly quoted
but his letter to me IL very unsat-
isfactory in that it contains sug-
| gestions and not facts. ], there
fore, deem 1t fit and proper that
the public be advised as to the real
facts connected with the arrests of
the 1889 speeders taken into cusN
tody by Commissioners oysters
men during the months of May and
June, in order that the public may
decide where the responsibility lies,
Il shall confine my discussion to
these speed cases because in the
limited time at my disposal l have
not had an opportunity to check up
on the Police Court dockets the
cases other than speed cases spoken
of by Commissioner oyster.
Five Per Cent Come to Court.
IAN examination of the public
records of tho Police Court dis
closes that OF the 1.43s arrests for
speeding. which Commissioner oys.
| ter states were made by his men
in the months of May and June
only 67 of these offenders, or less
than 5 per cent. actually came be-
fore the Police Court judges for
trial, and the penalties imposed in
| these 81 cases are open to the in
spection of the general public
What became Of the remaining 1915
speeders against whom Commits
sioner Oyster and his men directed
such a vigorous campaign to teach
them to respect the law? They did
not appear in court for trial and
Commissioner oysters men GER
tainly were not held all day in court
and deprived of their rest in prose-
cutting them.
why did these 1879 speeders re-
main away from court? Commits
sioner Oyster may be able to answes
this question. but the only plausible
reason can assign is that they
| deemed it more advisable to forfeit
the cash collaterals which they de-
posted at the various police sta
tions to which they were taken or
to which they Nrere directed to re-
port by the arresting officers. Here
/ the question naturally arises, 'wno
fixed the amounts of the cash col
! laterals deposited in these cases?'
They were fixed by the Police De-
partment under and by virtue ot
the authority conferred by section
las of the code of laws for the Dis
trict of Columbia, which provides
! that every person charged with an
offense triable in the Police Court
may give securitp for his appear
ance for trial by depositing money
as collateral security with the sta
ton keeper of the police precinct
within which such person may be
apprehended. The purpose of this
law being that persons charged
with offerses triable in the Police
Court may give cash security for
their appearance in court, for trial,
why is it that the Police eDpart-
ment, which is under the direct SUI
pervision of Commissioner Oyster
did not, reuire these 1,372 speders
10 deposit cash collateralss suffi-
cient i'm amount to ecure their. ap-
pearance in court for trial? -.
| Left to omcers' Discretion.
Another question here arises and
that Ia whether or not there is any
officiaI OF the Police Department
charged with the duty of determtn-
ing the amounts Of cash collatefals
| demanded OF these hare speeders
who failed to appear in court : One
would naturally suppose that Com
missioner oyster. who has super
vision Of the Police Department
being so determined to clean uI
| traffic conditions, would see to 4,
/ that these offenders were required
to deposit a sufficient amount ,oi
| cash collateral to secure their ap-
| pearap ce In court. So FAR as IAN
aware there is~no officiaf of the Ro-
lice Department charged With this
! duty, nor are there rules or fegula-
tions governing these speed cases
i but the matter seems to be left en-,
\ tireiv to the discretion of the ar
resting officer or the, station. keeper
of the. various police stations.
$ "My understanding is that wher
a citizen is. arrested and has q
/ charre Of intoxication Iodpet