Evening star., 1931-04-10
Boundaries and Crime.

The attempted bank hold-up' in Marl-
boro yesterday emphasizes again a stu
alton, possibly unique in the United
States, regarding police protection for
the community which constitutes Wash
ington and surrounding territory. With
In q relatively small area there are as
many as six separate police jurisdic-
tions. In an emergency, such as the
chase Of the bandits after the attempted
bank robbery, the jurisdictions are for
the moment merged. Yesterday, for in
stance, half q dozen or more radio
equipped police cars from washington
were chasing shadows over the Mary
land roads; Maryland State policemen
from the Bowie rack track were darting
hither and yon, and sheriffs or deputy
sheriffs, with constables, were joining
in the hunt.
But theoretically the Washington
police cars should have stopped at the
boundaries Of the District The Mary
land State police had no right OF the
paved State roads, unless specially dep
utized. And Prince Georges County's
police force now consists of a sheriff,
deputies and one constable for each
election district. Three other separate
police forces-those Of Arlington County,
Montgomery County and the Virginia
State Police-were not involved In the
hunt
Everybody might have joined in the
pursuit of the bandits. There is little
danger Of complications from overstep-
ping boundary lines In such cases. But
under other conditions there is another
story to tell. The investigation Of the
Brady bombing case devolved upon
Prince Georges County eficers, with the
tardy assistance Of two detectives from
Baltimore and with the Washington
police force for the most part keeping
hands of. The Baker murder case, in
Arlington, divided the responsibility for
solving the crime between the Arlington
police, headed by an elected sheriff and
the county prosecutor; the Department
Of Justice, Federal agency, and the
District of Columbia police. The cur
rent investigation Of the murdered Ma
rine primarily rests upon the constables
Of Prince Georges County, the Wash
ington police cooperating, but with no
definite responsibility.
Washington and at least the imme-
diately surrounding area have become
one community. The majority of the
citizens who have their homes across
the District line work in Washington.
But they are dependent for police pro-
lection upon the separate forces Of the
Capital, Montgomery County, Prince
Georges County and Arlington County,
each Of which 10 Jealous Of its own par
ticular territory. Each Of the police
forces represents . different theory Of
organization. There are the Metropcli-
tan Police, the Montgomery County
force, uniformed and headed by . police
chief. In Prince Georges County the
system Of policing the county by q
sheriff and four officers was recently
abolished in favor Of organizing q sep
arate force comparable to the Mont
gomery County set-up, but until the re-
organization goes into effect the county
Is dependent upon constables working
on fee basis; the Arlington force con-
sists Of q sheriff, deputies and nine uni
formed members, and there are also the
Maryland State Police, responsible
merely for enforcing State trafic laws
on State-maintained roads, and the Vir-
ginia State Police. with q somewhat
similarly confined Jurisdiction.
Such a condition is perfectly logical
according to our theories Of government
and political divisions. But 1t Is abb
surd when the test of common sense is
applied. In the work Of preventing
crime the criminal is the only one who
profits by boundary lines.