Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-02-20
CRIME WAVE NOT
RESULT Of WAR,
CHIEF DECLARES
Head of Kansas City Police
Denies Charge That Ex-
Service Men Are ReSpon-
SihIe for LaWIeSSneSS.

Kansas City. Mo. Feb. 19.-The
nationwide crime wave, an after
math of the passions reused by the
great war. is an "alibi" pure and
simple, a myth conCocted by inef-
ficient police heads to excuse the
prevalence of crime. This is the
statement of Charles Edwards,
former major in the American ex-
peditionary forces. recently APP
pointed police chief of Kansas
City.
Increased crime is attributed by
Major Edwards in large measure to
lax law enforcement, and strict
and impartial law enforcement VIII
wipe out the crime wave" he as
serts. Edwards, who was police
| captain before the war, says he is
familiar with crime conditions both
before and since the war. and in
sists that the war has had nothing
to do with crime increases.
mot one man in fifty who runs
amuck of the police is an ex-sol-
der" he said, land the occasional
one we find is usually not an over
seas fighter at all. but an habitual
the war and was a soldier simply
because he happened to be caught
in the selective draft" ....
Cooperation Is One Method.
Cooperation with state and fed
eral authorities is one of the meth
DDS employed by the new chief in
| his efforts to eliminate crime. I'm
der his instructions the police are
raiding bootlegging establishments,
particularly wholesale bootleggers,
and arresting vendors of narcotics.
I'VE are attempting" the chief
said, ito stop crime at its source.
Those sources are the boOtlegger-
and if you get the wholesaler you
shut off the retailer. the seller OF
narcotic drugs and the gambler,
| We are arresting gamblers. In an
effort to stop bank robbers. payroll
thieves and motor bandits, we have
stationed men at all banks.
Every police captain is re-
sponsible for the suppression OF all
forms Of law breaking in his dis
trict. He is held as strictly ac-
countable for his district as a com
pany commander in the army is
| for his company. If he can't de-
liver the goods we get somebody
who can.
I'VE have handled the vagrancy
problem in this way. The man VINO
wants to work is sent to the board
of public welfare, and the board
of public welfare finds him work.
If he does not want to work he
goes to the municipal farm. Drug
addicts, who form the great ma
iority of our petty thieves. are sent
to the municipal farm to take the
drug cure. Perhaps so per cent
of them are cured. 81.
AlI-night Shows Closed. :;
There is no mystery connected
with the suppression of crime. The
answer is alert, strict and impartial
enforcement of the law-of all the
laws on the statute books. Be
cause an offense is punishable I'M
der a federal statute is not a reason
for leaving the arrest of the Vlo-
lator to federal authorities. We
arrest the man and turn him over
to the federal authorities.
I'VE have closed all-night shows
because we have found them rem
devious for the lawless. Men meet
there and plan crimes and in the
small hours of the morning go ou'
to perpetrate them. We have
therefore closed the places.
meanwhile, we are replacing the
corrupt and inefficient policeman
with a man who will perform the
duties to which he is sworn.
Chief Edward is a veteran OF the
Spanish American war, the Phllip,,
pine instruction and the Worlo
War