The Washington herald., 1921-08-07
FIVE PER CENT OF SPEEDERS
GET TO COURT, JUDGE SAYS
Mcmahon Suggests Commissioner Oyster
Raise and Regulate Amount of Collateral.

day to day upon our streets, and
that no censrre or blame is to he
attached to the police department.
Letter Every Unsatisfactory
Traffic cases are tried in the Dis
trict of Columbia branch of the
Police Court. AS was presiding in
this court all during the month of
May and n portion Of the month of
June / addressed a letter to Com,
missioner oyster on July 13 1921,
asking if 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 is very unsat
isfactory in that IL 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 1,439 speeders taken into Gus
tody by Commissioner 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 / 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.
"An examination of the public
records of the Police Court dis
closes that of the 1.439 arrests for
speeding, which Commissioner oys-
ter states were made by his men
in the months of May and June,
only 81 of these offenders, or less
than 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 1879
speeders against whom Commits
sioher 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.
f'why did these 1879 speeders re-
main away from court? Commits
sioner Oyster may be able to answer
this question, but the only plausible
reason can assign is that they
deemed 1t 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 were 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 OF
the authority conferred by section
4S 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 offenses triable in the Police
Court may give cash security for
their appearance in court for trial.
why is it that the Police eDnart-
ment, which is under the direct su-
| pervision of Commissioner Oyster.
did not reuire these 1872 speders
1 to deposit cash collateralss suffi-
cient in amount to ecure their ap-
pearance in court for trial?
| Left to Omcers' Discretion.
Another question here arises and
that Is whether or not there is any
official of the Police Department
charged with the duty of determin-
ing the amounts of cash collaterals
demanded OF these f,372 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 up
traffic conditions, would see to II
that these offenders were ~required
to deposit sufficient amount of
cash collateral to secure their an
pearance In court. SO far as I am
aware there Is no official of the Po
| lice Department charged with this