Evening star., 1951-11-03
PoIice
Continued From First Page.)

the following five points are listed
to support the charge that the
Commissioners order is illegal:
The Board of Commissioners is
not conducting an official investi-
cation and does not have the
power to delegate any power to
Mr.. Bauman or any one else act
ing on behalf of the Senate in
vestigating committee.
Questions Called Irrelevant.
The questions in the question:
naire are not legally competent
and are not relevant to any in
quiry the Senate committee is
conducting.
The questionnaire violates the
law of privileged communication
between husband and wife and in
effect might cause a husband and
wife to testify against each other.
The QUESTIONABLE seeks to COM
pei disclosure Of confidential busi-
ness practices and relations which
otherwise would not be open to a
curious or inquisitive" public.
The questionnaire seeks in
formation which would not be
competent, relevant or permissive
in any legal action or investigation
and there is no legal basis for
eliciting such information.
Before the suit was filed Mai.
Barrett was called to the District
Building for a 45-minute confer
ence with the three Commission
ers. The Commissioners would not
divulge what they told the police
chief, but Maj. Barrett remained
adamant in his determination to
carry his fight against the ques-
tionnaire to the courts.
May Be First Such Suit.
Acting Corporation Counsel
Chester H. Gray said that as far
as he knew it was the first time
a police chief had filed suit
against his superiors, the Board
of Commissioners.
Commissioner Donohue had
gone into the matter thoroughly
before ordering policement to
answer the crime committees
QUESTIONABLE.
In response to questions as to
whether the questionnaire invaded
the private rights of individuals,
Commissioner Donohue said "they
do" He added that the
status of policemen. however, is
different than that of private citi-
zens. and he felt they should give
an accounting of their financial
when called upon to do
so by proper authorities.
Mr.. Bauman insisted the ques-
tionnaire did not violate any con-
Stitutional rights.
ut may be-" he added, that in
individual cases the privilege
against self incrimination may be
invoked. In such cases I assume
that will be specifically done and
the law pertaining thereto is clear.
Confined to Finances.
"The only intimate affairs of
the policeman and his family that
are gone into are financial. The
QUESTIONABLE does not compel the
disclosure of individual religious
practices, a matter which obvi-
ously is not the concern of the
committee.
Mr.. Bauman said mo inference
Of irregularity on the part of the
recipient Of the QUESTIONABLE
should be drawn by any one." The
committee, he added "in no way
wishes to embarrass any one in
his private or public life"
The QUESTIONABLE is almost
identical with the one used by the
Kings County district attorneys
office in its recent investigation
of the New York police depart
ment. More than 100 policemen
resigned to avoid answering the
QUESTIONABLE.
Mr.. Bauman said he made nu-
merous minor changes in the form
of the New York QUESTIONABLE to
conform to conditions here. SINH
lar questionnaires have been used
by numerous investigating bodies
for many years, he added.
will Stagger Mailing.
Mr.. Bauman has Steadfastly re-
fused to reveal how many ques-
tionnaires have been mailed out
to policemen. When he begins
receiving returns from the first
group, another batch will be
mailed out, Mr.. Bauman said.
It was decided to Stagger the
Imailings SO the investigating staff
would not be swamped with an
avalanche of returns. Each COM
Ipleted QUESTIONABLE will be
analyzed and checked by staff in