Evening star., 1935-01-13
More Policemen Needed.

More policemen are needed In
Washington and to ignore this need
Is to court steady increase In crime
and the petty thievery best dealt
with by an adequate force Of pa
trolmen. The police force should be
increased in accordance with the
demonstrable demands now existing,
or at least to make up for the net
reduction in the force since 1890.
This reduction has taken place while
the need for police protection has
increased.
The first duty Of policemen used
to be the regular patrol of home
areas. That need has not diminished.
But the emphasis now is placed on
regulating traffic, guarding citizens
against the automobile instead of
against the criminal. Every available
man on the force today spends a part
Of his time on traffic duty. The
increase in traric has made this more
necessary than ever, and added to
the requirements of traffic regulation
are those demands peculiar to the
National Capital, which are met by
supplying policemen for special de-
tails at functions and ceremonies and
the provision of proper escorts. Alto
gether. traffic and other demands have
reduced the force of patrolmen to the
point where 1t is impossible to man
every police beat, and in some cases
a patrolman must be assigned to
two and three times the amount of
territory that under normal condi-
tons would be intrusted to his care.
The last time the police force was
increased was In 1880, when twenty
eight men were added to the force.
At that time police neutenants were
serving twelve-hour duty, and seven
teen Of the new positions were util-
lied to increase the number of lieu
tenants and give them an eight hour
day. Since that time the population
OF the District has increased from
100000 to more than half a million,
but the force has suffered a net
decrease In personnel. In the fiscal
year 1888, when the economy act
went into effect, the force was reduced
by twenty-five men. the reduction in
personnel being necessary to keep
within appropriations. The next year
fifty-one traffic policemen. previously
paid for by the street car companies
but carried on the police roster, were
added to the general tax fund budget.
But the appropriation bill provided
for the salaries of only forty-one.
which meant decrease of ten.
Maj. Ernest w. Brown. superin-
tendent of police, requested an in
crease of 100 patrolmen in his original
estimates forwarded to the Commits
sioners. The Commissioners, In
sending the 1886 budget to the Bureau
of the Budget, reduced this request
to thirty-five, which would have
merely made up for losses in the
past two years. But the Bureau of
the Budget eliminated even this item,
and unless the House Appropriations
Committee has restored the increase
the police force will remain under
manned.
This is q short-sighted, entirely un-
Justified method Of treating q vitality
municipal function. When
there is crime to be dealt with our
budget experts sit comfortably in
their chairs and refer to the respon-
sibility that belongs entirely to the
police. The police are supposed to
know about such matters-let them
attend to business and do what they
are paid to do! But when the police
authorities ask for what they con-
slider necessary increases in personnel
to meet a condition they thoroughly
Understandable! That Is purely a
budget matter, to be decided by budget
officers.
Maj. Brown has made q convincing
case Of the need for more nolicemen