Arizona republican., 1922-01-01
PHOEN|XP OL|CE
DEPARTMENT IS
NOW ONE Of THE
MOST EFFICIENT

In no department Of Phoenix has
greater development taken place
within the past year than in the po-
lice department. The local police
force is now considered one of the
most efficient of any city in the
Southwest and some excellent work
has been done by individual mem
bers.
Establishment of an Identification
bureau with a competent fingerprint
expert in charge has been one Of the
outstanding features of the years
| work. Through this bureau, capture
of many notorious criminals has
| been effected within the year.
Early last spring Police Chief
George o. Brisbois. with Mayor Will
lis II. Plunkett, made an exhaustive
study of police methods in some of
the larger cities on the coast. AS a
result of their Investigations, GER
tain changes were made in the oper-
alton of the Phoenix department, one
new department was created and 9TH
err departments revised.
| Four Sub Departments
The department, as it is at present
constituted, consists of four sub-de-
| partments. The first of these is the
patrol system. The city has been di-
vided into va rious districts known in
| police parlance as beats" Officers
| are assigned to these districts and
make regular hourly rounds. Work
has already been started on the in
| stallation of a Gamewell automatic
police reporting system. Bonds in the
! sum of $4,000 were voted for this
| purpose nearly a year ago. When
| completed, the city can boast of one
| of the finest police reporting systems
| in the Southwest. At least 20 auto
matte reporting boxes are to be in
| stalled, all connected directly with
switchboard located in the central
! station.
One of the important phases Of
! police activities here is the work OF
| the plain clothes department of which
Jack j. McGrath is chief Other in
| inspectors are +. G. Grove, Assistant
Chief E. d. Ellis and d. ]. Lucy.
| Much of the criminal work in the
| city is done by this department.
True worth of the plain clothes
department has been clearly mani
fest within the past few months. Few
| people realize or appreciate the serv-
ice rendered by the four men known
as inspectors. but monthly records
of the department show that an av-
erage of from $1,000 to $4,000 worth
of goods are either stolen or lost T
Phoenix each month. Records further
disclose that the department recoy-
ers and returns to the owners about
SO per cent of all such goods.
Inspectors have arrested many no.
torious criminals in Phoenix within
the past few months, men badly
wanted in either Arizona or in Other
states. Practically all investigating
work is done by this department
hundreds and hundreds of calls be-
ing handled each month.
Traffic Squad
Capt. John A. Duncan heads tht
traffic work of the department, as
sisted by Traffic Officers Charlie
Cutler, Jerry Sullivan, e. D. O'Hagan
G. v. Glasscock, Berney Smith, E
E. Walton and G. w. Warren. 1t j
their duty to keep traffic moving t
prevent congestion, to safeguaSd tn
interest of pedestrian and motoris
alike, and to see that traffic regula
tions are enforced.
The fourth sub-department is tn
Identification bureau directed by {
B. Arnold. Mr.. Arnold is a competen
fingerprint expert and since assum
ing charge of the bureau thre
months ago has photographed an
fingerprinted 500 persons, big ma
jcrity of them men.
During the past IL months NOR
than 5000 arrests were made by tn
Phoenix department. Probably hal
| of this number were booked for in
| vestigation, but the remaining hal
| were held to answer to criminal com
| plants. Those charged with seriou
crimes were turned over to county o
federal officers. while those charge