New-York tribune., 1922-04-08

| Manhattan and four in Brooklyn.
In Manhattan these police stations
have been closed: West Thirty-scv-
cnth Street, West Twentieth Street.
Lasalle Street. East Eighty eighth
street, Madison Street. Macdougal
( Street. Greenwich Street and Union
Market
In Brooklyn these police stations
have been eliminated: Adams Street.
Amity Street. Vernon Avenue and
Flushing Avenue.
The object of these CONSULTATIONS" +"
Commissioner Enright says, is econ
omy. Civic economists who have ex-
amined the situation. notaAly the Citi-
aens Union, say that no money saved
TO the public, or that the saving is at
least negligible. On the other hand,
the enlarging of police precincts makes
it more difficult for patrolmcn. cspc
cially on remote posts to keep in touch
with their station houses, and, in
effect, leaves many posts unguarded for
greater periods Of time. 1t also has
the effect of increasing the distance
from a station house TO any given
point whore a crime is committed.
As an example. the West Thirty
seventh Street and West Twentieth
Street stations have been "consoli-
dated" with the West Thrtcth Street
station house. The West Thirtieth
! Street station now controls an area
bounded on the south by Fourteenth
| Street, west by the North River, north
by Forty second Street and east by
Fifth Avenue. patrolman leaving
post at Fourteenth Street and the
North River at midnight must travel
! ten blocks farther than was previously
necessary to reach his station house.
Patrolmcn Put on Fire Duty
! IN the event of fire on the further
/ boundaries of the larger consolidated
| precincts. reserve patrolmcn are drawn
from street duty for fire duty. because
Of the difficulty OF getting reserves
! from the station TO the scene in time
to form fire lines. This leaves i'm
! portant areas insuficiently guarded in
/ such circumstances.
Another activity Of the Commits
soner which has aroused adverse com
mcnt is the withdrawal Of number
Of police matrons from stations where
! they were formerly employed. This
makes necessary the transportation Of
women prisoners arrested in precincts
where there is no police matron, to .
station house who're matron is on
duty, an unwieldly. time-wasting sys-
tenn, which also has the effect Of de-
! creasing the number Of pa.romcn on
the streets at any given hour, since
patrolman who arrests q woman may
have to take her many miles to pre-
cinct. Meanwhile patrolmen on adjoin-
ing posts must extend their territory
TO cover that of the absent policeman.
| The same argument holds true of
the closing of the police cells at many
! fof ,r,ct !, fla,-
of MIR. Enrights. In the case of an
arrest made by patrolman in pre-
cinct where there are no cells, the pa
trolman is obliged to take his prisoner
/ to distant station house where cells
are provided, meanwhile leaving his
post to the care of another patrolman
| A recent amendment to police regula-
| ttlons provides that the monitor boxes
in police stations shall be in charge of
q police lieutenant. This duty was for
iner7S performed by a sergeant. The
snap Jobs Most Of the lieutenants in
charge Of monitor boxes are good
| friends with the Commissioner
PatroImen Like Lounging Duty
greatly criticized regulation which
has been put into effect by the Com
missioner is the one which provides for
/
! IS soft snap especially sought after
by patrolmeu. 1t works this way:
Every time a premises is raided
whether saloon charged with selling
! llquor, cigar store in which it is al
| legged gambling went on or cafe ac-
cused of promoting questionable prac-
| tlces, patrolmen are placed on duty
inside the raided premises. These men
remain on this sinecure duty until the
case against the raidcd premises is
! disposed Of, which may be days, weeks
or months. police lieutenant re-
Gently estimated the number Of patrol
duty on raided premises" regulation.
at between four and five hundred
This means four or five hundred men
withdrawn from active police duty
every day OF the year, giving perma-
nent condition Of man shortage in the
precincts affected.
I Commissioner Enright recently in
stituted system whereby detectives
on duty at police stations are sent
out on street patrol very night during
stated periods. The detectives are re-
quired to report from the street boxes
| every hour on the hour. In the case
OF robbery being reported to a police
! station few minutes after the hour.
! under the conditions previously exist
ing, detective was on the spot imme-
! diately to bagin an investigation. I'm
der the new system if robbery is re-
ported at five minutes after eleven, it
is midnight before a detective can be
reached to take up the trail
Commissioner Enright has asked this
year for S2,135,00o for the erection of
new police station, mostly in outlying
| quarters.
He has asked for one hundred auto
mobiles to perfect his motorizaton Of
| the force, previous to his demand of
yesterday for six high powered" au-
! tomobiles.
But in all his activities he has made
/ no effort to reorganize his department
along the system which was proved
successful by long line of his prcde-
cessors, from McAdoo to Woods.
Ard not until yesterday would he
ADMIT that crime in New York was
anything more than normal
Mother.in-Law Tells of
Chapman's Blond Visitor