Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-25
problem. Now I approve heartily Of
this said esprit de corps
Nrct uovo MnroIo

problem. Now I approve heartily Of
this said esprit de corps"
Must Have Morale.
No organization can function properly
without we'll developed morale and an
adhesiveness and MISUNDERSTANDING
| spirit prevailing among the men, but
unfortunately a certain type of men
recognizing this Notwithstanding this
spirit among their brother officers and
being totally without conscience and re-
gard for themselves or the honor OF
their department, and being men who
| undoubtedly were never destined to be
policemen, and seeing only in this
spirit, this morale. a protection for
| themselves in certain reprehenSible acts
which they desire to commit, knowing
full we'll that if they were caught their
comrades, as is their immemOrable Gus
tom, would stand by them and protect
them under the theory that a brother
officer can be guilty of no wrong until
preponderance of evidence has been
presented to the contrary.
And my firm conviction Is that II the
95 per cent of good, honest and decent
officers of this department were to
make up their minds that from now on
and henceforth they would do every
thing possible to rid the department of
such men in order that we may safe
guard the honor of our department. the
regard in which we all are held by the
general public would be greater. These
men, the 5 per cent, should realize that
they alone are not concerned, but that
the entire department shares In some
degree the credit or blame of their
every act. especially any act which may
attain publicity. And let us further re-
solve that every time, in the future, that
we chance to observe a brother officer
committing some serious offenSe (noW
when I say offenSe, do not mean vlo-
lations of the manual; the manual, by
the way. is policeman's rule book con-
corning interdepartmental rules. let us
forget that he is brother officer, let us
lust consider him in the guise OF the
lawbreaker he really is. and take the
action we would take in the case of any
other offender.
Clean Own Department.
Let us clean our own department
from the inside out ourselves. and rem
der it unnecessary for the citiZenry to
consider taking some action designed to
accomplish the same result. Let us
have it so that in the future when we
chance to walk along the street. all
who may see us in our proud uniforms
may feel entitled to say. Here comes a
good man, a decent man, sober man,
a man to whom we might turn in any
emergency, or for most any advice"
Let the very fact that he is in uniform
bespeak the fact that he Is ply
sically. mentally and morally fit to be
law enforcement officer. And I can
not be too emphatic in declaring that
only a man who possesses the above
enumerated traits of character is quail
fed to be a policeman. So let each and
every one of us take individual resolve
to do everything in our power to earn
the friendly regard of all good citizens.
Much publicity has been given the
fact that over 400 cases have been
brought against policemen at the Trial
Board during the past year. While this
is admittedly a fact, nevertheless a ref
erence to the records proves that great
many of these cases the officers we're
found not guilty as charged, and others
were what is known as repeaters; some
policemen being brought time after time,
even as high as IS and 80 times. These
men are what are known as perennial
offenders and another thing concerning
this S per cent, undoubtedly. the intelli-
gence and fitness Of some of them might
very we'll be questioned.
During certain periods in the past
| the Police Department was greatly in