The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-09-28

~ -. = = 81 ssess : = ~
49, ~ g - = r1ssntlnl atttts6s
Fl T. J 81 IN IN ssls's sajsf sxeerttye ~
1lSliab NJ - y sleil Dsossl that y asest
- q - 1sfp sot y syngshy
~ ~ l.lzokD Keller cs4sa!s.sgRsss
lfsIfta +. s117ss -. john MaFrin veHt g
rseosa = obpqatas t4ss cteatiqe q . peF
pceFd. tAeFsby ezprsss4ne the!r eooA1raes Y
m ASh YhnM M meyoks aetiep oastM. Com
Mla1ippsrs FIlIieq H. FHxsimmons and Frank
WicA sapperfed Mayor 1chrissr's reg6lsttcn
eaAing the, services Of tn sitting menabess OF
III hoard and naming their Successery.
The law plainly states that the personnel Of
tn police department. iscluding the chief.
shsif - answerabie to the board of police and
~ commissioners. ChieftCox vss not ~ sp-
pptrtee Of the msyor. Hss vas placed in com com
man4 Of ne police department by the board Of
police and IRE commissioners Therefore hs
must sccouat to the board:t and not to the
mayor. for any dereliction Of duty. Two months
ago Chief Cor yassreprimanded BY the board
for allowing private citizens to Use members Of
his force IN making arrests, and at that NINE
hs escaped suspension only through interyen-
tion Of Mayor schriver, who issued 2 public
statement condoning the actibns Of the chief
which the board felt justified imposition Of
some diseiplinary action. Monday night the
board again called upon Chief Cox for further
enlightenment on the alleged manipulation OF
his department so that the beat on which the
Gabel place is located was without police pro-
lection the whole night OF the murder Of the
bar owner. The chief likewise was alleged to
have lost control Of the men in his department,
and he confessed that he had On the basis Of
that admission. and the unsatisfactory explana-
ton Of the omission on the Gabel beat the
board ordered his suspension pending full in
yestigation Of charges that will in the mean
time be placed before the board in written
form.
The board had planned on affording Chief
Cox full opportunity to clear himself of the
charges that stand against him as a police
executive. and also to give him a chance to
prove charges that he uttered against members
of his department when he stated that they had
failed to enforce his orders against law violat-
ors But the day following the suspension of
the chief the mayor had a resolution put
through the councin ending the services of the
board members thereby circumventing them in
the performance of a duty they felt they
owed the taxpayers and to fulfill their obliga-
tons to the public as "a branch of the govern
ment responsible fors the efficient conduct of
the police department.
However, assurance is given that the new
board will take up where the old board left off
the investigation to which such widespread
public interest attaches. 1t has been an
nounced that the investigation sessions of the
board will be open to thepublic, and that there
will be no attempt to conceal facts that should,
in Justice both to the police department and to
the taxpayers, be brought into the light The
Argus insists that this promise to the public
be fulfilled, and it proposessto see to it that the
public interest shall be properly safeguarded
in the event there is any effort to stop the in
vestigation short of full and free. reveaiment OF
conditions that have developed the present
crisis in the department The taxpayers of
Rock Island are seeking the truth about the
police department, and they are going to get
it, il it is possible for The Argus, by legal
measures if necessary, to produce it. The day
has passed in Rock Island when the police de-
partment, any other department that is
operated with public funds and presumably in
the interest OF the common welfare, shall be
covered by manipulators who are afraid of the
light.
The Argus has full confidence in the mem
bers Of the new police and fire commission
| They are men who are capable of efficien,
| service in the positions they have been desig-
mated to ill The eyes of the Rock Island pub.
lie are/ centered on them. The public wants
them to get at the bottom Of the strife in the
police department that brought from Chief Cox
the confession that for six months his mer
failed to enforce orders that he had issued t.
them. The police commission should call be
! fore it every member Of the department ant
afford him an opportunity to deny or affirm thu
| admission of the chief of police.
|
The Ex-Kaiser.
Pink shirts and pink collars are being
sported by the ex-kaiser, reports a Londor