The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1922-12-11

uious before eur city. On No.
ycniber ,sth report. WIRE ssnt
20 the chief Of poline concern.
Ing eighteen or nineteen houses.
setting forth details. and each
oue Of those PLACES II still run
ming. The police knew about Il
b~c~nss tho evidence wHs put In
their hands and Jet no cleanup
Of these places has occurred
have grua; respect. ~ we all
have. for the major part Of the poles
force Of Seattle There arc scores Of
conscientious men who would like Co
do their duty but we must say that
u looks very much ~ tho some of
the higher authorities did not want
20 check these things The mayor Of
this city IL the head Of the police and
absolutely responsible for the police
forcs. Hs cannot shin the respon-
sihiiity on 70 anybody else. He knows
that thcss things exis' and he could
closs them n he would
DO not believe that I sxagrera,s
when ! nay that IN. police force u
Seattle In In a depiorshie condition.
Let me repeat. there are scores Of
men on the force who are conscien-
tiouH and want 60 DO their duty. A
finer body Of police officers could not
be found anywher. IN the land. They
would DO their duty II they had a
chance. but the heart IN taken out OF
many Of these men because OF tho
conditions Of tho force ~ II In today.
Some Of them know that q too strict
enforcement; IA not desired Many Of
the most experienced and abiest men
who know the conditions OF the city.
who have had experience In dealing
with crime. have been removed from
the center OF the city 20 the outside
districsa Many inexperienced men
are In the center OF the city and eorne
Of the men who have no police rec
ords Of strict enforcement or con-
spiouous ability are placed IN poet
tons Of power high up In the force
This IN q stats Of affairs that has
discouraged some who would like 10
do their duty and know that II IN
impossible under present conditions.
and nobody In responsible for this ex-
cept Mayor Brown.
The mayor assures us that ne
II nm expert on advertising. No
one win doubt HE word. lie Ger.
tainly has been carrying In the
press n clever bit Of publicity
lie assures us that he IL doing
NIL In his power 10 stop the ban.
dits and gunner. and outlines q
marvellous plan 10 check this
crime wave. What he does not
tell us IA that not one bandit or
robbcr I'm q hundred Ia taken In
his act hut In usually taken In
the center Of the city. In the
underworld. by experienced po-
licesnen- The mayor says moth.
ing about cleaning out this un-
derworid. Neither does ne COM
plain 10 the public that he has
had many Of the old. experienced
and conscientious police officers
removed from the center Of tho
city to tho suburban districts,
where they cannot interfere with
the crime that Ii rampant In the
center Of Seattle.
In Thursdays issus Of The Star
ths mayor says; ''whencver any
police officer has had any reason TO
suspect that immoral women have
oonsregated at any place. a prompt
investigation has beon made. and II
tho suspicious have bean substsn.
tiated, that place has been closed and
a police lock placed on the door"
II the mayor wrote that statement.
he lied to tho city. ! have In my
possession records from tho police
headquarters showing that they have
knowledge of tho existence Of sew
erai of these places. The police de-
partmsnt has done nothing toward
shutting up those places nor putting
a lock on the door. They wcre all
wide open AZ late an Friday night Of
last week and openly doing business.
Furthermore, the police department
has been given detailed knowledge of
some OF these places. and yet these
places, ~ late as Saturday night.
were wide opsn.