Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-05-24
House DC. Group Increases
Proposed Retirement
Age to IS.
COMMITTEES ACTION
BECLOUDS FINDINGS
Other Sections Adopted includes
Censure of Headley-Action
Follows Closed Fight.
BY JAMES E. CHM.

The House District Committee TO-
day eliminated from the report of its
Special Crime Committee a recon-
mendation for the immediate retire.
ment of the Police Departments high
command when it raised the age limit
from so to IS, but in the same breath
1t approved q section of the report
which stated that they should be
placed on the retired list and replaced
by younger and more vigorous men"
While there were various interpre-
tations of the action of the commit
tee, it was believed that the change
in age limit will preclude the sug-
gestion for any immediate change in
administration unless the House makes
further changes Mai. E. w. Brown,
superintendent of police, is 81; In
spector T. r. Bean, 62, and Inspector
A. j. Headley, who was picked out for
censure by the committee, is GA and
will reach the age of IS in July.
Two Other Sections Adopted.
Two other sections of the report
also were approved by the committee
One merely gives historical outline
of the activities of the Crime Com
mittee, but the other contains the
censure of Inspector Headley for Tax
ity" and the part he played in the
so-called "gentlemen's agreement"
which would have resulted in his pro-
motion to the rank of an assistant
superintendent upon the retirement
of Inspector Bean.
The paragraph in section 2 relating
to the Police Department high COM
mand," which the committee approved,
follows: Purely in the interest of
affording the people of Washington
the best possible police protection, it
is nothing more than good judgment
to take the administration of the Po-
lice Department out of the hands of
officials who have given to the city
the best years of their lives and who,
because of advancing age, are no
longer able to provide the character
of energetic leadership that must be
had if the department is to be op-
Grated at its maximum efficiency.
Best Years Given to Job.
THE work of a good police officer
is arduouS and exhausting. Those who
have risen through the ranks by virtue
Of their devotion to service and be-
cause of their ability to assume in
creasing responsibilities are the ones
who probably have exerted the greatest
amount of physical and mental energy.
These officers have given to their
tasks not only the best years of their
lives, but their service to the COM
and mental resources. For many years
most of them have worked without
regard to schedule of hours. They
have worked Sundays, holidays and
at times continuously for weeks with
out single day of relaxation. 1t Is
not uncommon for ranking officials
of the Police Department to devote
as much as IA or Is hours a day to
their duties. No man can devote him.
self so unsparingly to such trying
work as that of police administration
and continue indefinitely to be forceful
and Efficient
1T is only fair and Just to these
officers that they be retired, but from
the standpoint of good common sense
and protection, the District of
Columbia should place them on the
retired list and replace them with
younger and more vigorous men"
Paragraph Amended.
The paragraph which the commit
tee amended relating to the immediate
retirement of high-ranking officers
reads as follows:
"Translating the foregoing into
definite opinion, the subcommittee
suggests that the Commissioners of
the District of Columbia Immediately
retire from active service at least all
officers above the rank of captain who
have reached the age of go years. (The
committee amendment raises this to
65 years. and who in accordance with
the existing law as found In title 20,
section 584, page 238, of the Code of
the District Of Columbia, complete to
March 4, 1929, may be retired in the
discretion of the Commissioners. - ."
This paragraph also suggests that
in the appointment of a successor to
Maj. Brown the selection be made
from outside the ranks of the Police
Department. The committee said it
was of the opinion that the force at
the present time is suffering seriously
not only from lack of morale, but
from a breakdown of discipline predi-
Gated upon a widespread lack of re-
spect for superior officers.
THE appointment of a person of
proper ability, who is not now con-
nected with the department" the
committee report said, might bring
to the administration of the force
an impartial viewpoint, modern and
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