Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-21
The Policeman Lot May Yet Be Happy.

A new view of the policeman, or, rather, the
attitude OF the dear public toward the policeman,
may be gathered from this statement OF Secre-
tary Of Labor Davis, made last Monday at the
poccmen's convention at Reading:
1t is high time that we, the citizens who
profit by the poceman's protection, should
take up the policemans cause. If he cannot
plead his own cause, we must plead 1t Tor
him. 1t is time we think OF him as man
like ourselves. After years Of benefits at his
hands, let us exert ourselves in his behalf.
Gilbert wrote and Sullivan embalmed it in
more or less enduring melody that "the police
mans lot is not happy one" He is too often
forced to assume the status of 'Wearywarld,'
who had been elected constable in Thrums, be-
cause the regulations required that the conf
rnunity have policeman, and yet who was os-
tracized by those who elected him because he
undertook to perform the Office they thrust upon
him. And yet, like the burglar, the policeman's
capacity for innocent enjoyment is quite as great
as any other MANS"
Raymond B. Fosdick, in his work on Euro
pean Police Systems" has this to say:
The police problem has, however, wider re-
lationships than are involved in the mere tune
ton of keeping order If the maintenance of
organization would be well adapted to its So
luton. But political and economic NOV, nents
and ideas, as we'll as social prejudices, cut
across and complicate the task. The problem
is inseparably connected with many phases of
community life and the treatment must take
color from opinions and ideals. How the
police are to be made responsive to the public
will and yet be kept safe from popular demor-
alization is obviously problem of great COM
plexity, affected in different localities by many
special influences.
Mr. Fosdick's conclusions with reference to
the problem in Europe may be applied generally.
Arthur Wood, after his service as commissioner
of police in New York, discussed the question in
much the same tenor as does Mr.. Fosdick, and
recent reports on American systems agree that
as yet the right note has not been struck in this
country.
Commissioner Curtis of Boston, in an order
referring to the death of policeman who had
been killed while attempting to make an arrest,
says:
The dangers that patrolman is called upon
to incur, so we'll known to every member of
the force, are rarely thought of by the public
until some tragedy such as this forces them
upon its notice. Nor does that public realize
that in addition to these dangers, police Of
hcer is also compelled to undergo unj Just criti-
cism and even persecution, which might nat
uray tend to discourage him from the per-
formance of his full duty. Yet Patronan
Cuneo performed his full duty.
All these things combine to support the be-
lief that we have not as yet approached the prob
lem of our police system from the proper angle.
Omaha, in common with most cities of its stand
ing, has accepted without especial study the ex-
istence of police force that has been organized
and disciplined is paid and maintained largely
by rule of thumb. In time the real relation of
the policeman to the community may be better
understood. and then, perhaps, his status will be
so changed that comparatively his lot will be
happy one