New Britain herald., 1926-10-16


 he's acclaimed as several sorts of a fiat tire. Bobby Jones suffered it in lesser degree, because golf mobs are not as harsh as the other mobs, but it was there, that gang spirit.
 Being unanalytical, the thing is unpreventable and all victors must go on bearing the problems that mob psychology lays before them and wondering why 1t must be so pre- valent to them. And the thing is as unanswerable as the aurora borealis.
 Proponents of civil service in the fire and police departments figur- atively clapped their hands in glee when they read of the decision of the police board to demand that applicants for appointment to the supernumcrary force be able to write legibly and express themselves intelligently. The commissioners were greatly surprised to discover that there are men in the depart- ment whose penmanship is so poor that none but themselves can inter- pret it, while their lack of powers of description and their unfamiliar 1ty with the English language handicaps them in preparing reports of incidents occurring on their beats. Perhaps it is natural that the com- mlssioners are surprised, since thev have not made any efrort to deter mine beforehand the qualifications of candidates in this respect.
 Civil service requirements were in vogue in the police and fire depart ments when George A. Quigley was mayor He believed in it, not claim lng It was capable of insuring the appointment of the best men in all cases, but insisting that it had the effect of eliminating at once the. weaker candidates, In short, it gave the appointing powers a desirable field to choose from, he contendcd, and there were many men in pub- llc Who agreed with him. Neverthe- less, civil service was knocked out Of the city charter and it may never be put back, but the police boards plan to pay close attention to the reading and writing abilities of ap-
 
 service, though in a modified form.
 There are many requirements which candidates should meet if they are to be good policemen. They should be intelligent. courteous, physically fit, brave, Of good moral standing, and in other ways quali- fled. Their courteousness or lack thereof cannot be determined until they are put to the test, and the same is true with respect to bravery. Whether or not their physical quaIi- fcations arc sufficient to merit ap- continent is determined in advance and 1t is presumed that similar in- vestigation is made with respect to their morals. but for long time the only reference commissioners have made to the intelligence require ment has consisted of a series of orthodox questions.
 An applicant who would answer the question "Why do you wish to become q upernumerary" in any way other than that he believes he would like police work and has am- bitions towards promotion to the regular force would be presumed to lack common sense. He certainly should not be expected to admit that the extra dollars he might pick up by substituting for regular men and working at dance halls. ball games. etc. prompted him to seek a place in the department. Likewise. the question as to wheth- CT or not he could re- tain his present position and do all , night police duty every night in the week seems of little importance, be- cause, as a matter of fact, he will seldom, if crer be called upon to , work every night as q supernumer- ary and If he attempted to tell , body Of men qualified to serve as ! police commissioners that he could , live without a normal amount of sleep he should not be considered deserving of crcdence,
 T Docs your wife approve of your f becoming policeman?"; What o outflt were you with in the war?": Do you think you would be willing to arrest q friend, if he violated the law DO you know anyone who IS on the force at present." and , similar forms of interrogation have : been employed, and the sum total of the replies as we see it, does not mean anything.
 We do not believe, either that it matters to the police department or , the city in general, whether or not a. . candidate for the supernumerary de- partmcnt can name the men who e have been president since 1895. It T would do him no harm to know the cate America was discovered, the '. dates of the beginning and the end = Of the World war and the names of the lncumbents of the principal z municipal offices, but if we were determining the fate of the candi- Y, dates, we would be highly concerned d about their ability to turn in clear, l. concise reports of accidents, descrip-
 tlons of people with whom their
 work brings them in contact. direct D strangers about the city, know the
 shortest and best routes out of the
 city, give the locations of manu-
 featuring plants public buildings, O hotels, etc, and by all means we ~ should want to test their attitude - towards law enforcement with l-' particular attention to their judg-
 ment. We would want to know what u they would do in certain cases, and II the time taken by commissioners to .4 ask the sort of questions which seem
 to be favored, would be filled by ~ framing typical incidents that con- " front policemen day after day, for 5 the purpose of finding out what the U candidates would do in actual serv-
 ice.
 - The extent to which the commits " sioners plan to go in determining