Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-21
Extension of Present Train
ing Period Depends on
Increase of Force.
SUPERINTENDENT TO ASK
100 MORE PATR0LMEN
Declares Longer Instruction Neces.
sary Before Officers Are
Assigned to Beats.

Recruits on the Metropolitan Police
force will be given a three-month
course Of training in the police school
before being assigned to duty, under a
new plan announced yesterday by Mai.
Henry G. Pratt, superintendent.
The present course of training lasts
for 80 days and its extension to 90 days,
Maj. Pratt explained, is contingent
upon an increase in the patrol force
which he proposes to recommend In
the budgetary estimates of the Police
Department for the 1891 fiscal year,
now in process Of preparation.
New members of the force now are
frequently assigned to beats" without
any special preparation, Maj. Pratt
pointed out. while number who have
been connected with the department for
four and five years have never attended
school. These men have never been
thoroughly instructed how to handle q
revolver nor schooled in the duties
of a police officer. ~.
The three-month course of training
under the new plan would be a pre-
requisite to assignment to active duty
Of all recruits. Mot policeman would
be given beat" said Mai Pratt, until
he should know how to use his service
revolver and be familiar with the police
manuel, the police regulations and the
laws which he is sworn to enforce"
To Ask 100 More Men.
In the 1881 estimates Mai. Pratt
will include an item for the appoint
ment of 100 additional patrolmen and
so more detectives who would be desig-
mated as '"class A" detectives, receiv-
ing $500 less a year than the detective
sergeants. These detectives would be
detailed with the regular squads at the
central detective bureau. working with
the veterans and getting the benefit of
practical training which could not be
obtained in the police school. where
theory would constitute major por-
ton Of the course OF instruction.
Maj. Pratt also plans to insert in the
estimates another item creating 80
class B" detectives. This group would
be composed of Is precinct detectives
and Is officers assigned especially to
prohibition enforcement. The precinct
detectives now receive $240 more than
the privates, but the prohibition en-
forcement officers, while working as
long and performing even more hazard
superintendent said, are given no ex-
ira compensation. tThe salary for the
class B" detective would remain the
same as that of the precinct detective,
but the prohibition officers who would
be included In this group would bene-
fit by an increase of $240 a year.
Class Formation Possible.
With authorization for increasing the
patrol force by 100 men. Maj. Pratt de-
clared, it would be possible to make ap-
pointments in groups of sufficient size
to organize a class for the police train
ing school, whereas, under the present
system, many months elapse sometimes
before enough recruits are added to the
force to justify the starting of q new
class in the police school.
The so "class A" detectives which
Mai. Pratt wants for the Detective Bu-
reau in reality would be "understudies,
he said, to the detective sergeants, and
all appointments to vacancies in the
ranks Of the detective sergeants would
be made from this new group. The
detective sergeants receive 5000 q year
in additional compensation, and the
new "class A" detectives would be given
$500 extra.
Mai. Pratt would increase the person.
mel of the Detective Bureau over which
he formerly had command to 100. Fifty
detective sergeants now constitute the
Detective Bureau force, and the num-
Der would be raised to 100 with the
addition Of the so class A" detectives.
"a large Detective Bureau personnel
long has been needed, Mai. Pratt ex-
planned, as it is physically impossible
for the present force to give the public
the attention 1t deserves. In 1928 he
said more than $4,000 cases were re-
ferred to the bureau for investigation
with the result that many minor cases
had to be sidetracked whenever i'm
portant cases developed.
Shelby Suggested Increase.
An increase In the detective forcC
was advocated several weeks ago by In
spector William S. Shelby, assistant
superintendent, when he took over COM
mand Of the detective bureau relieving
Maj. Pratt. With additional men he
said he would create number Of new
squads to specialize in certain phases
of police work
The detective bureau now has a bad
check, homicide, automobile, bomb and
safe squad, but Inspector Shelby said
q special squad should be organized
to handle hold-ups and burglaries, and
another group created to investigate
the character of applicants for certain
classes Of permits such as palmists,
masseurs, secondhand dealers, employ
ment agencies and private detective
agencies. The character investigations
are now made chiefly by the precincts
with the exception of those seeking per-
mits to establish employment agencies.
and this Is done by the detective bu-
reau.