New-York tribune., 1922-04-08
Board of Estimate Votes
Increase and Commits.
sioner Promises to Rush
Training of Recruits
Wants 6 Big Cars
To Chase Bandits
Clamor of Civic Associa.
tons for Protection
Rises From 5 Boroughs

III iC'PonSe 10 an aroused ClClZenry
clamoring for better protection of life
and property, Police Commissioner En-
right requested and received from the
Board of Estimate yesterday authoriza-
ton to add l,192 men to his. force.
lie also asked for six high powered
cars for the pursuit Of autom obile ban
dts. Action on this, however, was held
up until to-day.
Ihe Commissioner announced that
every available man now on the Civil
Service list, about 500. would be put in
training as soon as their eligibility was
certified.
"As soon as I get them," said the
Commissioner, II will put the whole
batch through the training school, and
have them out on the sidewalks in now
uniforms doing actual patrol within
two months"
In presenting his request TO the
board, Mr.. Enright revealed that OF the
500 in the Police Department. only
l,b0O were engaged at any time in ac-
tua patrol duty For the first time he
made an implied admission as to the
prevalence of unusual crime conditions
evident that our effective patrol force
OF 1,6OO is utterly inadequate"
Calls for Cooperation
With more policemen, unrestricted
cooperation among officials charged
with the prevention and punishment of
CRIME and more precautionary atti-
tude on the part of the public, he said
he could reduce criminaIity here to a
minimum within six months
Of the 1,192 extra men it appears,
however, that only about 765 will be
used for tour duty, the remainder, ac-
cording to the Commissioner, to be
used for traffic and other purposes.
With three shifts, this will actually
add but $50 to the effective patrol
forces. With the 200 extra men OBJ
tanned from a return to the nine
platoon system, the number of men
on patrol will be brought from 1900
up to 1850 about the middle of June.
Mr.. Enright intimated, however, that
with the additional men granted by the
TEN may be shortly restored. Later he
asserted that this might not be ad-
vsable until conditions became normal.
Mr.. Enright went over the ground at
luncheon Of the New York Press
Club, where he complained that "every-
body hollers and no one helps" He
insisted there was a reduction in the
number of felonies here so far this
year of 19 per cent, as compared with
similar period in 1917. The number
of such crimes, he said, was about
thirty a day, or about 900 q month.
"Why water this every day with your
tears?" he remarked.
Issues Self-Help Pamphlets
Further evidence that the Commits
sioner has become thoroughly alive to
the situation was shown in the dis
tribution by him Of thousands Of
pamphlets advising the citizen on chow
TO guard against crime" These pam
phlets were heaped up at station
houses and may be obtained free.
There was hurriedly called confer
cree of all the city's police inspectors
night, at which there was a general
discussion of the prevalent conditions
and the best methods of dealing with
them. The inspectors were given to
understand, it was learned, that the de-
partment chief demanded perfect patrol
from the men on the force, and that
lieutenants, captains and other sub
ordinates must be strictly instructed
to that end.
District Attorney Banton announced
that he would have all criminal cases
from now on placed at the head of the
preferred list and trials pushed with
the utmost speed
The public outcry against unchecked
lawlessness continued to gain momen-
tum with protests from two more bust
ness organizations.
Brooklyn Chamber Acts
The executive committee of the
BROOKLYN Chamber of Commerce de-
cided at luncheon yesterday to ap-
point spcial committee to investigate
"the causes of the present crime wave,
cooperate with the Police Department
atnd with the commercial and civic
bodies, and make recommendations
(Ccnunued on next paas)