Evening star., 1952-02-04
Lufz 10 Strive
For Convictions
To Halt beftinq
Horussing Finished, ,
Inspector Asks Aid
Of Decent People
By chorIes G., Brooks

By ChorIes G.. Brooks
Police Inspector Clarence Lut7
thinks big-time gambling in the
District has stopped, but petty
betting will continue until WASH
ington's decent people" get be-
hind an anti-gambling drive.
Inspector Lutz is the new head
lof the Metropolitan Police De-
lpartment's recently y-merged gam.
bling. narcotics and morals squads.
BY heading the war on all three
types Of vices, Inspector Lutz
hopes to be more effective than
the old squads that operated sep
arately. But he quickly conredas
that his job of wiping out all
vice is an impossible assignment.
There is vice here and there
viii be vice here as long as people
make it profitable" Inspector Lut3
said. "All we can do is hold it to
q minimum"
Big Backers Close up.
Inspector LutZ, well known as
a fair but hard hitting policeman,
definitely tossed out the possibility
OF continuing former Police Chief
Robert j. Barrett's policy of har-
RAISING gamblers as he began
work whipping his department
into shape to fight vice.
I'm not going to back the
:, wagons up to a place and make
newspaper headlines" he de-
clared. THAT should be done only
as a last resort and then only
after comforting with the United
States Attorneys Office.
What we want is convictions.
The Federal gambling tax laws
has caused the big gambling back
ers to close up, he continued, and
whether they will start up opera
tions again is any ones guess.
i Inspector Lutz's guess is II don't
think so."
Questions Involved.
But people are governed by their
own consent, he continued, and
most seem to want to gamble. The
inspector declared he must have
the support of the decent people"
in town to do an effective job.
And that brings up questions
like these:
How many people will back In
lspector Lutz if he raids charitable
events where forms of gambling
!, violations are often made? How
many convictions do they make
THAT way?
: Not many, the inspector seems
, to believe-and that means most
$ |of those raids will be, as before,
Y confined to actual cases of de-
J |frauding.
What I'm chiefly concerned
with are the commercial gam
blers." he declared.
5 Switch to Other Fields.
Half of the anti-vice work the
Inspector is engaged in is psyche
logical, he thinks. Keep them
guessing" If a man is mixed up in
one form of vice. he's going to be
mixed up in them all sooner or
later.
when things get hot in one
field, they switch to something else
for a WHILE" he continued.
That's why Maj. Robert v. Muir.
Tray, police superintendent, COM
bined the several vice squads un-
der one head. There will be more
undercover men in effect because
they can easily be moved from
squad to squad as circumstances
demand.
Get Them In Time.
"We1l have a close liaison with
the United States Attorney" In
spector Lutz said. Although in
many cases we won't make arrests
because we feel we don't have
enough evidence under the law, it
will all fit into a general pattern.
1T often takes time. But sooner
or later We'll get them"
Inspector LutZ is hampered,
however, by special problems in
the police department.
Recently, he said, three uni
formed men turned down wee q
assignments in plainclothes be-
cause ''it costs them too much
money"
of course. that happens often
and every one who takes the job
does it reluctantly"
Even the inspector admitted he.
too, once used to be reluctant
about accepting vice assignments
in his precinct days.
Extra Pay Isn't Enough.
A probationary detectives pay
is small, he said. and the extra
$180.60 year designated to COM
pensate for use Of their own cars
and clothes isn't enough.
TT costs them over $50 a month
Of their own personal money in
many instances to work on vice
assignments" Inspector Lutz as
serted.
He pointed out that men go
into plainclothes work on the
chance that they might hit some
thing big and get promoted faster.
But many Of them," he went
on, "just can't afford to take that
chance. It costs them money"
Examination System Urged.
Vice men can't depend on police
department cars even when
they're not marked because cf
the five number license plates and
the tell-tale radio aerial. They
usually have to use their private
cars and that means gas and oil
bills, added insurance and general
wear and tear.
Friday, q special police hoard