The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-07-13

ay BILL GLIB

Cg DAL& &A6E
a~ ar did friend the other
Saturday, 'aieat r. a local store.
|1A cali hi.n Dick since that
.s-t Els name. Hes mad II rather
.a-E3 during MS life and has
spent good deal 81 TINE paying
K c1Ur to soclety" behind bars
Hey, DICK. yelled. How
acz Eoo getting along
He swung around. grinned. and
. cl1- over 10 shake hands.
Swell Bill, ne answered
Yea hncw. I'm strictly leglt'
rs& And .nvoluntarily he
swung q .ook over his shoulder
before continuing. THAT IS. I'm
1.y.1e 20 be L they'll let me
a.aae Tae biankety- blank blanks
PICK up guys ike me whenever
tEcypan 20 make a public show Of
=.5lcleucr. How can hold an hon.
est .a5 Z I'm going to be thrown
.n jail for questioning everytlme
something lis pulled in town."
D.c< was speaking the truth.
Nat about Key West alone be-
Cause re isn't living here. but
4fslt practically all towns and
al laW enforcement agencies.
Apparently when q crime is
committed. there is a standing or
der 10 round Up all previously
convicted people in the commu-
ni.y. Our law enforcement off
Gers fail TO remember the sta
1.atlcs they SO glibly offer the
plo..c-that criminals follow a
Eeodus operandi" and that pick
pockets, for instance. seldom ex-
tend the5c activities to armed rob
berry. etc.
The result Is that for two or
three days after d crime, the
la}.s are usually flooded with
toxin DRINKS. minor lawbreakers,
ard either unfortunate characters.
Suppose these latter people are
trying 10 live d good, decent life.
How long do you think they can
aoId a lob. even with an under
standing employer, if events tran
splEe SAD that they are thrown in
jail for questioning every month
or so2
It's easy to see why they get
SIS bitter toward society and even
taaiity simply pitch overheard
any attempt at living normal
life.
TIE Key West police force has
improved considerably during the
past year or 50. There is still a
.ot ii room for development IN
scientific and investigative abili-
ty among the men, Some Of the
officers seem to have limited
themselves! too much to traffic
control. They'd feel lost without
q whistle r tfleir mouth or d siren
under their foot Yet traffic prob
lens are only one phase Of all
around police work.
Our County Officers present a
somewhat brighter picture with
regard to trained investigation of
crime. Deputy sheriff Frank Web
oer. Z former u. S. Marine officer,
has studi%s Hard With the FBI
and other law enforcement agen- !
cses. ! think he can be depended /
upon to consider a case objective
u and try to make "the crime
fit the person, rather than the !
person fit the crime"
Though county officers are bet
ter investigators, they seem toj
LACK the humanity and under
standing Of the city police. Frank |
Weber, for instance, has a rough, /
cold approach to problems and Of |
ten makes people antagonistic, if
no, fearful. Harry Lee Baker or
Chief Joe Kemp. on the other
hand show q tolerant under
standing that helps build up
friendship and confidence. Each
att}tude-WebbeT's and Bakers
Or Kemp 4 has its good and bad
attributes.
The colAty and city need to re-
ogsn3ze trNlr own deficiencies and
d. something ab3ut4 them One
such problem Is the citytthrSw-
'og too g1Hch responsibility On the
County vskenever a major Crime
occurs. Why?
~~---~si"- ~--~--saz aHA~s---------~--~----
Lieut. Gen Leonard r. Gerow,
rctaged commander Of the Second