The Wilmington morning star., 1947-04-14

The fact that Hayes is untried If
the post he now holds by virtue
Of city manager and city council
action the past Friday most surely
must be taken into consideration
by any 'prognosticator attempting
to play the role to the hilt.
Nevertheless, it behooves one
to hope, and expect, that within
a moon. or two the Wilmington
police department will return *
the degree of efficiency which only
a relatively short time ago mark
ed it as one of the most efficien'
law enforcement agencies in North
Carolina.
The MI. Citizen of Wilmington
is not the only one hoping fol
the best. 1t is an exception ano
not a rule that once a man get:
a taste of wearing a police uni
form he is not satisfied unless
he is in one.
Lifetime Job
To be specific, on more thar
one occasion members of the loca.
police force have said in effect
Il fully expect to stay in thi:
game as long as l live, o. unit
the golden date Of my retirement
appears
Thus it was with a good deal Of
chagrin and embarrassment thai
local police learned that first one,
and then two, of their fellow mem.
bers had been accused of cheating
a bit on the way around the
streets of the city.
One member of the department
expressed what seemed to be the
general feeling of his brothers in
blue when he remarked:
II don't know whether to quit
or not. If 1 do I'll be suspected
of something. Then on the other
hand if I stay on some smart
guy will make a crack and We'll
get all riled up. Then We'll cool
off for a bit and then comes that
let-down feeling. To tell the truth,
the whole mess kind of brands
all of us.
But" he said musingly, you
can't hardly blame that guy"
Then came the resignation OF
Charlie" Casteen. Then the death
OF Phil Parrish, and the sub
sequent void caused by the delay
in naming a chief.
Force Split
Perhaps it was only natural that
the force was split about three
ways from Sunday over who the
different factions wanted to head
the department. Natural or not,
it became rather gloomy around
headquarters whenever the sub
ject of the vacancy was mention
ed.
1t finally reached the point
where, with one or two exceptions,
the only thing in the minds of
the officers was that a man be
named. Any man almost, just as
long as that office across the
hall was filled permanently, more
or less.
This attitude was quickened by
the pointed warning of City Man.
ager J. R. Benson, 1.-The Man Up
stairs" that it would not be to the
best interests of the department
if the splits among the members
increased as the result of that ever
present reminder that some wanted
one man and some wanted an
other.
Then Hayes was named. A
collective sigh of relief stirred the
entire city hall. He might not
be the choice Of every man. But
there was a chief of police.
Important Appointment
It would only be fair to say
that the appointment meant a
great deal to that Man Upstairs"
Faced with the almost impossible
task Of naming a man acceptable
to everyone, he waited with what
a good many felt was uncanny
patience until that controversial
civil service law arrived so that
some action might be taken.
It did finally arrive and action
was taken swiftly.
Thus things are back to a SEM
blance Of normal once again. 1t
would be almost too much to hope
that the morale of the police force
would once again, magically, re-
turn overnight.
1t possibly could but it probably
won't. There have been perhaps
one or two too many splits within
the department itself for any nor
NAL state Of affairs to return within
the space Of a few days. It will
no doubt be weeks. maybe months,
before the proud feeling which
characterizes an efficient unit re-
appears.
One thing on the credit side of
the department ledger, howeve-.
is recognized by a good many
observant Wilmingtonians. This
is that throughout the entire period
of indecision which has at one
time or another wrapped the force
in a state Of semi-gloom, the