CHAPTER VI

POLICE PROTECTION

INTRODUCTORY LESSON PLAN

Investigate the amount of policing that is necessary in your school. a. List the regulations that are intended to maintain quiet and order in the building during school hours.

b. Make a list of any other police regulations which you have.
c. If your school has a "traffic squad," explain in detail how
it is organized, and suggest how its work might be improved.
d. Do any of the regulations seem unnecessary? Why?
e. Are there any rules which you think should be added to
those already in force?

f. Who made these rules, the faculty or the students themselves?
g. To what extent do the students have charge of enforcing
these regulations? Should their powers and duties be in-
creased?

1. THE POLICEMAN: GUARDIAN AND GUIDE

Few of us realize to how great an extent our safety and comfort depend on the efficiency of our policemen. It is the policeman who sees that the janitor has swept the new-fallen snow off the pavements before it can melt and then freeze again into icy paths that mean danger to life and limb. He makes the groceryman remove his boxes and rubbish from the sidewalk, and out of the way of pedestrians, who have the right of way there. He stands at the school street corner, and stops traffic while the children get safely across. He protects us against the speed maniac, as well as against the careless truck driver who tries to monopolize the roadway. If we are lost, he courteously directs us to our destination. He is a walking bureau of information concerning the important buildings of the city. He patiently listens to the broken English of the immigrant newcomer and demonstrates that the government of this new world

is a guardian, not an oppressor. And when we are soundly sleeping he patrols his lonely beat to protect us against the lawbreaker who might endanger our property and life.

2. HOW POLICE PROTECTION DEVELOPED

The word "police" denoting a department of the civil government concerned with enforcing law and order in the community was first used in English in the eighteenth century. Previous to that time community protection had been solely a military function. Louis XIV had created the police force of Paris. But instead of making life safe and comfortable for the people of Paris, that body became a tool of royal oppression and spying. Police forces came to have a bad reputation. Rather than suffer an efficient force of civil guardians who might prove agents of despotism, the people of Europe chose to put up with conditions as bad as they were without police protection. It was estimated that at the beginning of the nineteenth century there was at least one criminal to every twenty-two people in England. In London crime was so rampant, and burglars, footpads, and thieves so flourishing, that the constables were powerless to enforce order, and public opinion opposed any adequate reinforcement of the ranks of these policemen. In some districts no protection at all was afforded, and victims were reduced to bargaining with the thieves. The usual proposition was that if the thieves would restore a portion of the stolen property, the robbed would take no step toward prosecution. These conditions lasted until 1830, when public prejudice was finally overcome by the efficiency of a newly instituted police force.

The American colonies followed England's example of caution in establishing a police system. Until the nineteenth century, although most large towns and cities employed a force of night policemen, called the "Night Watch," every man had to be his own policeman by day. In the United States, as in other countries, the well-equipped, trained police force is a modern development.

3. How POLICEMEN ARE TRAINED

A policeman, like a soldier, cannot be created in a few days. It takes months of careful training to produce a competent and efficient patrolman. To begin with, not every person is either eligible or fitted for the position. To obtain an appointment on a police force a man in most cities must be twenty-one years old. He must not be too short nor too tall, too thin nor too fat.

Courtesy, New York Police Department

POLICEMEN RECEIVING INSTRUCTION ON THE IDENTIFICATION OF

AUTOMOBILES

Size, strength, and agility are necessary qualities in a policeman. Nearly every city requires the candidate to pass a civil service examination before his appointment to the force. Then, if he has won his appointment, he is often put through a course of intensive training especially designed to fit him for the work expected of him as a member of the police force.

Candidates are taught in training school everything they are required to know while on duty. They become familiar with the national, state, and city laws they will have to enforce. They learn what types of arrest they can make, and those they have

no right to make. For example, if one man has struck another with a dangerous weapon-even a cane or an umbrella-a policeman may arrest the offender without a warrant. But if he struck his victim with his fist and not with a weapon, the policeman can make no arrest unless he witnesses the incident. His only power in the second case is to suggest that the victim

if he wishes, can either make the arrest himself, or apply to a magistrate for a warrant. The would-be policemen must learn when they have a right to enter people's homes, and when they have no right to do so. They are also given a rigid course in physical training, so that they are fitted to cope with any emergency that requires strength, precision, and quickness. They are taught ju jutsu to enable them to overpower an adversary without the use of weapons. Perhaps most important of all, the splendid traditions of the force are instilled into them

traditions of clean physical courage, and pride in the organization. They learn that a cowardly policeman would not last long on the force.

4. THE BRANCHES OF THE FORCE

Patrolmen. All of us know the quiet, blue-uniformed patrolman whose duty it is to maintain order in his "beat," a certain number of city blocks. It is the patrolman to whom we direct our inquiries when we cannot find an address we are hunting for, and who gives us courteous directions. In case of accident he is promptly on hand to find out who is responsible for the trouble, to keep back the curious who crowd around the injured, to give first aid, and to summon an ambulance if one is needed. If there is a fire it is often he who first gives the alarm, then risks his life in helping people to safety before the firemen arrive. One of his most important tasks is to get to know the people on his beat. For if he knows the people in that neighborhood, at least by sight, he is more likely to notice the stranger who may prove to be a law-breaker. The patrolman is the private in the police army. Young men just graduated from the police school are usually first assigned to patrol duty. Those who show special aptitude are later transferred to other branches of the force. Some cities have different classes of patrolmen, the difference being based on the length of time the men have been on the force. Those in the higher classes receive more pay than the others, and are in direct line for promotion.

The Detective Squad. In most large cities there is a special body of men on the force, known as detectives, whose duty is to follow up criminal cases, to locate the guilty persons, and to obtain sufficient evidence to convict them. Detectives operate as "plain clothes men," for in their work they must not be recognized as policemen. If your home has been robbed, and you notify the Police Department, detectives from headquarters are sent to question you and to investigate the place and circumstances of the burglary. They try if possible to find fingerprints left on some article by the robber, for if they are lucky