Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-11-03
InexcusobIe RESPONSIBILITY

surprised last July when the local
branch OF the National Association for.
the Advancement of Colored People de-
manded the removal of Police Chief
Robert v. Murray, charging him with
condoning brutality and discriminatory
practices by members Of the force.
For Chief Murray has won a degree
Of respect and confidence in this city
that few Of his predecessors ever
achieved. He came up through the
ranks with an excellent and clean record
as police officer. His administration
has increased the morale and efficiency
Of the department His men regard him
as fair, honest and hard working, and
the community thinks of him as the best
Police Chief this city has had in many
day.
In the circumstances, the only SEN
sible conclusion was that the NAACP
would produce the evidence to support
its charges. 1t would not be too hard
to believe that there might be proof of
some brutality. After all, there were
more than 10000 arrests last year, re-
sulting in charges, by daily average of
95l policemen assigned to law enforce
ment. There were 268 cases of assault
against policemen, and a number of
them were injured in making arrests.
In numerous cases police officers took
their lives in their hands when they
made arrests, dealing with desperate
men and women, many of them armed,
many of them drunk or crazed by drugs,
many Of them with records as convicted
felons. 1t would not be surprising if
there were provable cases of the use of
unnecessary force in making numerous
arrests.
Fair-minded people were ready,
therefore, to reserve judgment on the
truth of the NAACP charges of brutality,
although unwilling to assume that Chief
Murray condoned it as policy; or that
he sanctioned a system, or pattern,
In the department of discriminating
against colored policemen in their as
signments and in their selection for pro-
motion. No responsible organization Of
citizens, white or colored, would make
such grave charges without having the
carefully prepared proof to back them
up, or ask for the removal of a compe-
tent official without due cause.
Commissioner Mclaughlin and his
colleagues at the District Building were
obviously Of that opinion. In the face
of provocative insolence and deliberate
diSreSpect, which they would not have
tolerated from any organization of white
citizens, they have displayed the pa
thence of Job in trying to get at the
truth of what the NAACP, being an
organization dedicated to improving the
welfare of colored citizens, had charged.
The two most extraordinary devel-
opments in this case have been these:
First, that long FBI investigation
Of the NAACP'S handful Of alleged bru-
tally cases, and the Interpretation Of
its results by the Department of Justice,
revealed no evidence of brutality war
ranting prosecution of anybody.
Second, that the specific and gen.
eralized charges preferred by the NAACP
were so sloppily prepared, so hastily
thrown together, so lacking in the hard
facts rejecting careful investigation, as
to suggest incredible responsibility
and reckless disregard for the conSe-
quences. The local branch of the NAACP
has followed course in this proceeding
capable of doing great injury to the
cause Of sound racial relationships built
on mutual respect and good will It has
hurt, rather than helped, its cause by
disillusioning fair-minded people as to
its motives. It has exposed type of
leadership that should be changed, ac-
companied by public apology to Chief
Murray and the Police Department.