Evening star., 1936-11-18


November 16, 1885,
There is no more important subject
today than that of crime. There Is no
more sinister force than that Of the
$500, 900 persons who are engaged by day
and by night in a concerted effort to
wreck the fundamentals Of security
through an amazing series Of felonies
which proceed at the rate Of one every
20 seconds.
Therefore, there can be no middle
ground, no compromising, no give and
take in the struggle between the good
citizen and his enemy. This enemy Is
q multi-sided individual. He takes on
the appearance of poverty. He masque-
rades in the luxury Of riches. He sulks
in the shadows. He parades himself
openly. He pretends honesty. All too
often he is embodied in that force which
gives to us our so-called public servants
in that he is a purveyor, collector OF
votes. which he looks upon as so much
merchandise to be raised for market and
traded to the highest bidder. I refer.
of course, to the renegade Of politics who
works only for personal gain and who,
with others of his type, selfishly conspires
in an attempt to criminally capitalize the
foundations upon which we hope to build
our edifices Of peace and security.
X X ~
There is only one way in which his Of
fense can be repulsed, and that is by the
utmost effort on the part Of all persons
to whom efficient law-enforcement is
important.
Such action, of course, is fully de-.
scribed by one word-"co-operation
There are, however, as many types OF
cooperation as there are types Of crime.
Too often one or more Of these types is
encompassed by the amazing pattern Of
intrigue which crime weaves about us.
Sometimes this false cooperation
takes the form of pretended or apparent
ly extraordinary efforts leading to much
noise but few results, such as the sporadic
crime cleanup campaigns" SO frequent
and so futile in America. In other in
stances action is wholly honest on the
part OF some persons and dishonest on
the part of others. In other cases the
records of the Federal Bureau Of Investi-
cation show that while the heads Of
police departments may be eager to as
sist, there remain renegades within the
departments who not only are traitors to
law enforcement, but who are Benedict
Arnolds to their own brother officials, in
that they deliberately send warnings to
criminal elements that they may be pre-
pared for the arrival of raiding squads;
that they may either flee or give battle,
and. in resisting arrest, fire from ambush
upon honest men, betrayed by traitors
in uniform.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation,
in its efforts to eliminate many of the
more vicious members of gangdom during
the last several years, has experienced
numerous types of cooperation. In
many cases this bureau has obtained q
type for which it is highly grateful, a
wholehearted, concerted effort of entire
police departments from the rookie
patrolman on through to the chief and
the commissioner. To such men the
bureau feels tremendous debt. 1t feels
also that these departments deserve the
appreciation and support of every right
thinking citizen. They are an honor to
law-enforcement, and they should be an
example to enforcement bodies every
where, exemplifying as they do the earn
est efforts of honest men to combat a
most dangerous enemy. In such cities.
there is less crime than prevails in
municipalities where the cooperation re-
ceived by the bureau has been of an en-
tirely different sort.
No city can be safe if its police depart
ment Is not trustworthy. No city can feel
a freedom from apprehension so long as
the so-called guardians of peace are men
who have no hope of safety for themselves,
no outlook for continuation of their Jobs
or Advancement in what should be a pro-
fession, no definite, plainly outlined pro-
gram. by which to outwit and combat the
cleverly delineated schemes of shrewd
men who have made profession Of crime
in all its phases.
In such cities. and even in larger COM
munities extending beyond State lines, we
find that the psychology of attempted
crime eradication often takes form in
what is known as drives, or gigantic raids,
or limited campaigns against the under
world. I insist that an enemy body
which numbers $500 900, and which con-
-sistently, every hour, day, week and year,
commits an irreducible minimum of
1,500. 900 felonies annually, can neither be
outwitted, eliminated nor even materially
annoyed by such things as roundups, or
campaigns, or sporadic raids. These are
an affront to the theory of efficient law
enforcement. Inevitably, before one of
these raids, or campaigns, or drives takes
place, there is much hurrying about, con-
centration of officers, excited giving of
orders and attendant publicity. with the
result that the crook of Importance, the
crook who often commands crooks the
venal politician who is in league with
"fxerS," the hideout owner who conceals
crooks, and all other persons concerned
with the underworld are given due and
sufficient notice that on a certain date
and at certain hour the bodies of law
enforcement will move against them. I
leave to the common sense of the average
individual judgment the results which
follow such notification. There is much
excitement, changing of patrol wagons,
screeching Of sirens, the herding of indi-
viduals into police stations and jails, to
be followed by tremendous surges of
publicity, all amounting to practically
nothing.
Only one thing counts in law-enforce-
ment and that is lawful conviction of
the guilty. To that end, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation of the United
States Department Of Justice is proud Of
its latest record, which shows that only
three out of every hundred men walk