Evening star., 1935-02-05
LAX|TY IS CHARGED
IN SUPERVISION Of
DETECTIVE BUREAU
Schultz Provokes Burke.
Suspected Crooks Face
Suspension.
REPORTING SYSTEM
is HELD ANTIQUATED
Withholds Names in Instance
Where One Reported for Others.
Bigger Force Asked.

Immediate suspension faces any
member of the Detective Bureau who
is suspected of being crooked" In
spector Frank S. w. Burke. chief of
detectives, told the special Crime In
vestigating Committee of the House.
ViSibly disturbed by series of queS-
tions fired at him by Representative
Schultz, Democrat. of Indiana, who
is taking a prominent part in the
INQUIRY. Burke pounded the committee
table and declared:
If there is a crooked man in nv
Office, and if you'll give me his name,
guarantee to you he will be displaced
Immediately
Poor Management Charged.
Schultz insisted he had not in
tended to imply that any member of
the Detective Bureau was crooked"
What am driving at" he said, lis
that there's a laxity of supervision in
the department and that this civil
service rating you inspectors are fore
ing on the men is destroying the
morale OF the department. The Police
Department has sufficient men to po-
lice the city, but they are not well
managed"
Previously. Schultz had condemned
as "antiquated" the system used by
officers in reporting to precinct sta
tionS and said it was possible for one
man to report for another.
DO you know he said, there are
men on the department who don't even
60 to the precinct stations. One man
goes in and reports for himself and
two others who remain home in bed.
That's general statement, but I
know it's true"
Withholds Names.
Schultz then recited one specific in
stance, but declined to reveal the
names of the men involved "as yet"
Under such a system, Schultz ar
gued, it is possible for the officers to
engage in activities other than police
work
You don't have command of these
men" declared Schultz.
II feel that do" replied Burke.
That's where We differ" said
Schultz. That's why they race
horses"
II believe every man in my outfit"
Burke said, lis putting more than an
average days work in every day.
Each and every man is acting in good
faith"
Later, after another series of ques-
tions, Burke looked at Schultz and
said
You are intimating they take
graft"
mo, I'm not" replied Schultz II
am not intimating anything of the
Sort
After the argument. Schultz asked
Burke to explain why a hundred
gambling houses we're closed several
months ago when the "heat was
turned on" as result of demands for
q cleanup in the gambling situation.
Little to Be Called.
Burke said Lieut.. George M. Little,
head Of the Detective Bureaus spe-
cial vice and gambling squad, was bet
ter qualified to answer that question.
AS a result Lieut.. Little and George
Deyoe, a member of the squad, will be
called as witnesses Friday, when the
hearings are resumed, instead of
United States Attorney Leslie M.
Garnett, who was slated to follow In
spector Burke on the witness stand
Chairman Randolph indicated the
committee would make a thorough
study of the parole and probation
systems in the District as a result of
information developed during the
questioning OF Inspector Burke by
Representative Reed, Republican, of
Illinois. Burke said he believed a
change in the present parole and pro-
baton laws would bring an improve
ment in present conditions.
Reed also indicated he believed a
change in the jury system would
improve conditions. He said he
thought Government employees should
be allowed to serve on juries.
Asks Larger Force.
Burke's earlier testimony which he
gave before Schulte's arrival at the
hearing was devoted to the need of
a substantial increase in the police
force to cope with Washington's
crime situation.
Burke declared the detective force
alone should be strengthened by at
least 80 men. There are now 80 men
assigned to the detection and preven-
ton OF crime in both the Detective
Bureau and the precincts, and the
minimum, he said, should be 100. OF
these, he declared, 10 should be de-
tectlve Sergeants.
Inrough a series of questions,
Chairman Randolph developed from
Burke's answers that the force as it
is now constituted is efficient and
that Maj. Ernest W. Brown. superin-
tendent, "is the most successful police
chief in the world"
Claims Crime Increases.
With statistical records, Burke
showed how crime had increased in
the District in recent years, along
with the growth in population. and
explained that more than so per cent
of the felonies occur in the first three
police precincts-the territory COW
cred by the business section and the
contiguous combination residential
and business areas.
Randolph asked Burke what pro-
portion of the police force was re-
cruited from residents of the District.
Burke said he could not give a fair
estimate, but he knew that in the last
few years only few of the new men
were natives of the District, although
some of the appointees had lived here
for several years or more.
Randolph wanted to show whether
lifelong residents of the District who
are familiar with the principal laws
and regulations, would not make more
efficient officers than strangers.
Burke also said he could not give
a fair estimate of the proportion of
men on the force qualified in the de-
lection and prevention of crime.