Evening star., 1941-02-15
Miller
Continued From First Page

congressional committee on the sub
ject. We are ultimately held re-
sponsible and recently there was a
wave of traffic accidents and
deaths.
The assignment of Inspector Mil
Ter to do Inspector Holmes work
during his absence may be routine
matter, Mai Brown may have acted
properly. But I think in view Of
the whole situation our advice
should have been asked and this
thing not jammed down our throats.
Earlier Commissioner Melvin C.
Hszen, president of the Board of
Commissioners and supervisor OF
Police and Fire Departments. indi-
Gated he would approve Maj. Brown's S
selection of Inspector Miller as head
of the traffic division.
Engineer Commissioner David
McCoach. jr.. when questioned. said
he believed that normally when the
head of a division goes on leave. the
next in command in that division
would take over. instead Of having
some other official assigned. "unless
some one with proper authority
made the different assignment"
Matter to Be Discussed.
Asked whether this meant he felt
Mai. Brown did not have proper
authority he said he did not know
Col. McCoach. however. said he had
no intention of seeking to prevent
Inspector Miller from taking charge
at 8 am. tomorrow. He said he
thought the subject would be dis
cussed by the Commissioners, but
that he did not plan to initiate the
move.
Reports of dispute arose yester-
day after the Commissioners adopted
a recommendation by the police
chief that all motorcycle men in
the Police Department be placed
under the direction of one super
vising official Later Maj. Brown
announced Inspector Miller would
be in charge of the unified squad.
Then Commissioner Young raised
the question as to whether 1nspec-
tor Miller should be given the as
signment, pointing out that In
spector Holmes still was on duty
and had not applied for retirement.
At the same time Commissioner
Young emphasized that the city
heads had not designated any in
spector for the unified motorcycle
squad post.
Mai. Brown declared today that
if Commissioner Young had taken
a stand on the Miller appointment,
he was not aware of it.
Commissioner Young has not
communicated with me-" he said.
Eventually I will nominate In
spector Miller for the post of Traffic
Division head. However, Inspector
Holmes still is in command and his
retirement is still matter of con-
lecture"
Inspector Holmes, who went on
leave Monday, has been reported to
be planning to retire in April.
To clarity the situation, Maj.
Brown explained today that all po-
lice inspectors are connected with
administrative headquarters and all
are considered of equal rank except
in respect to seniority.
Since Inspector Miller has been
assigned to the accident prevention
unit and schoolboy patrol work and
thus is already dealing with traffic
activities, Maj Bown said, it seemed
logical to assign him to the post of
acting head of the traffic division
during Inspector Holmes absence.
Formal Action Unnecessary.
Both Commissioner Hazen and
Commissioner McCoach said they
didn't think it would be nee
essary for the Commission
ers to take formal action on the
question of who should command the
unified motorcycle unit as long as
this was an administrative assign
ment of duty by the police superin-
tendent and did not involve change
in rank
Asked fNr comment on the re-