Evening star., 1942-08-04
Shore Patrol Protects
As Well as Policies
Sailors on Leave
It's Extra Duty for Men,
So Chief Complaint
Is Lack Of Sleep
p, the Associated Press,


NORFOLK. Va, Aug. 4.-Jacl
Tar, hungry for feminine com
panionship, asks the beer parlo
waitress for a date.
Well. she has to work until mid
night, but if Jack will buy bottl
of champagne tS7 per bottle, she'l
meet him when the clock strikes Il
Jack buys the bubbly (the cir
gets commission from the house
and settles himself in a booth.
The luke box swallows endles
nickels and speWs forth jive. Cou
piles move about on the dance floor
Along the bar elbows bend as th'
bartenders serve up more suds
Hours pass.
Comes midnight.
Jack Tar leaves his booth ane
moves toward the waitress Alst
moving toward her are six othel
Jack Tars. Easy, Mac, she's my
date"
Your date? After I pay 7 buck!
for champagne, she's your date?'
Two minutes later the seven sail
ors are tied up in a maelstrom OF
flying fists tWaitress slips quietly
through front door. Two more
minutes and the shore patrol ar
rives to break up the scrap among
the seven dateless sailors.
Out of Bounds Penalty.
The next night the beer parlol
proprietor is panied to find two
husky young men in uniform stand
ing in front of his establishment
and a total lack of patronage by
sailors. And his pain is a nightly
thing until he promises to break
up the waitress ss-champagne-m
night date practice.
Making place "out of bounds" fol
Navy men is only one of the multi
tudinous duties of the naval shore
patrol, whose function is to "keeI
the boys out of trouble, preserve
order and see that uniforms are wor1
correctly"
Drawn from shore establishments
and ships in port, the petty officers
used for shore patrol do an ex-
cellent job of policing and protect
ing the thousands of Navy men who
throng the streets of Norfolk night
ly. Navy men are more amenable
to discipline by the short patrol
than to discipline by civil police.
Civil police arrest some Navy mer
but turn them over to the patrol un-
less they are charged with serious
offenses. Those charged with minor
offenses, such as being drunk OF
disorderly, are turned over to the
patrol, which in turn delivers them
to their ships or stations for disci-
plinary action.
IS to 80 on Duty at Night.
During the day the shore patrol
maintains skeleton force, but from
sundown until l am. (sometimes
later there are anywhere from rs
to 80 men on duty on the average
week night. On week ends ano
paydays therell be 140 or so, de.
pending on the number of ships in
port.
Shore patrol is extra duty for the
men assigned. They perform their
days routine work then 60 on patroI
and report to ship or station next
day for usual assignments. A mar
is never given shore patrol duty
as punishment.
Despite the fact that shore patro
is extra duty the men assigned &C.
cept it more or less philosophically
TITS just another job" they say
There's one thing about it they dom
like, however "It makes us mis-
our sleep" Men drawn from shor'
stations serve on shore patrol fo
80 days. men on ships get SP duty
about once a month.
Patrol Travels in Pairs.
The shore patrol is easily spotted
Each man wears a belt. leggins anc
an armband with the letters "SP.
Each carries a smooth stick sinilal
to a policeman's night stick
The shore patrol travels in pair
and each pair is assigned to a par
ticular zone. Two men are assigned
to each Norfolk Portsmouth ferr,
between 9 pm. and 2 am. Tw'
more travel on the Norfolk -Balti
more passenger boats Virgini;
Beach patrols are supplied by tn
Dam Neck Station. Portsmouth AM
Newport News are supplied by ship
in port.
Augmenting the shore patrol OF
foot are a station wagon and
truck fitted out as an ambulance
The truck is used more or less a
a black maria to answer emergenc
calls.
Police Cooperation Lauded.
Chief Quartermaster Neil Coope
asserted that nowhere do the polio
cooperate with the Navy bette
than in Norfolk
Drunkenness and fighting are tn
principal offenses by Navy mer
Cooper explained. In cases of prop
erty damage the sailors are made t
sign an agreement to pay for tn
damage they've done. One cop
goes to the offenders commandin
officer and the other to the merch
I
was damaged. The boys alway
make good on the payments" Coope
said.
Enlisted men picked up by til
shore patrol for being drunk al
detained at headquarters until
am, then sent TO their ship or ste
ton. When an officer is picked u
shore patrol headquarters usual
telephones his ship or station an
has another officer come downtow
and take him in tow.
Head of the shore patrol here
1t. Col j. M Balm. U. S. M. c.,
native of Norfolk, who received
commission in the Marine Corps
1916, a year after his graduate
from Virginia Military Institut
Retired in 1889, he was called bat
TO active service II months later
Waste makes haste. Collect you