Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-27
Futile Police Methods?

| 1t is pointed cut as significant that
three underworld characters, picked up
and held by the Washington police or
suspicion. have adopted an openly de-
| FAINT attitude. laughing at their cap
| tors futile attempts to question them
without the aid OF the third degree. 4"
! The bizarre theory has also been re-
portedly advanced by anonymous po-
lice authorities that thieves and
gangsters from other sections Of the
Nation are heading to Washington,
safe in the knowledge that the third
stuff" are barred IN this jurisdiction.
If such stories are deliberately in
spired by some members of the police
force the incident presents a reveal
ing commentary on their intelligence.
1t has been consistently maintained
that the third degree has never been
sanctioned here and that those guilty
Of its practice have been a few Grant
members Of the force, the sooner got rid
OF the better. Yet, in almost the same
breath, the impression is permitted to
so out that gangsters and other I'M
desirables will come to Washington
and make the place a haven for GRIM
inais because the doughty weapon that
lies in the third degree has been re-
moved from the hands Of the police.
who are therefore left the helpless and
hapless victims of gangsters' taunts.
II the third degree has never been
sanctioned here, then the public con-
domination of its practice and the pro-
ceedings against those alleged to have
practiced it will have no effect upon
the work OF the police in detecting
crime. If the vast majority of the force
has been able to get along well enough
without the third degree in the past,
they win be as able to get along without
it in the future.
But If the department has been using
the third degree and is now bereft of
that method of moral suasion, there Is
nothing for good policemen or good citi-
zens to become alarmed about. 1t simply
means that the police must substitute
intelligence for strong-arm stuff. The
same complaints that one will hear con-
corning the abolition of brutal tactics
TO make prisoners talk were doubtless
heard when the rack and the wheel were
done away with as approved instru-
ments Of torture and it is probable that
lot Of people went around with long
faces when they were notified that the
business of burning witches would be
dispensed with in future.
Far more interesting than the theory
that the police are unable to make
their suspects talk" because of the
abolition of the third degree is the
fact that such supposedly incriminat-
ing evidence as the discovery of small
arsenal in the hotel room occupied by
the suspects is of no legal value. The
suspects, if no other police authorities
ask for them, will probably be charged
with "vagrancy," and If they can fur
nish bond they will go free. They ap-
parently have a legal right. In the Dis
trlct OF Columbia, to secrete pistols, a
sawed-off shotgun. ammunition and
burglars tools in their place of resi-
dence," which happens to be a hotel
room.
Is it not time that such characters
be made to assume the burden of proof
that the possession Of such equipment
was for legitimate purposeP In New
York these men could be sent to prison
for ten years for possessing those
weapons without a permit. Here in
, Washington no charge can even BE-
| placed against them. How long is this
community going TO permit the exist
| ence Of such an absurd state of affairs;
In the meantime, the police are to b.
congratulated on doing their part anc
picking these men up for investigation
however futile that gesture may be
because of the lack of adequate laws.