The day book. [volume], March 19, 1914, NOON EDITION, Image 21

About The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
COAST POLICEWOMAN IS NOT IN
FAVOR OF CLUBS
Let everybody learn to shoot
straight, women as well as men.
Take the clubs away from police
men.
Instead of throwing drunks in a
cell, let them sign a card promising
the policeman making the arrest that
they will be in court in the mornmg,
Encourage policemen to send
drunks home instead of locking them
up.
AboUsh,the practice of promoting
policemeri on the basis of the number
of arrests made.
Mrs. Frank E. Wolfe, now at the
Hotel Bradley, a Los Angeles police
woman wearing star No. 281, has
looked over the police systems of all
the large cities in the United States
and gives the above rules for getting
better police service.
She was asked, "Do you believe it's
a good thing. for the policewomen to
learn to shoot?
"Sure," was the answer. "Every
woman ought to learn to shoot But
the policewomen ought not to -carry
guns except in certain districts. A re
volver is a clumsy, useless article for
a woman to conceal about her
clothes. Except for night work in a
few 'districts, they are not needed. I
feel sorry for the ladies who will be
compelled to carry a big 38-caliber
gun as Chicago officers.
"What have I found that looks
good in betterment of police service?
-Well, one of the first things that
comes to my mind is the way the
New York department" handles
drunks.
"A policeman's efficiency record
goes down" and promotion is slower
for him if he is always bringing in
drunks.
"It is counted against his intelli
gence if he spends his time dragging
in fellows he has picked up helpless
on the street.
"This has gone so far that a po
liceman sometimes carries a drunken
man across the street to get him out
side the beat. They tell stories of
drunks being shifted this way several
times in an hour by two policemen
who don't want the credit for an ar
rest. Gjenerally though the policy has
been adopted of taking them home.
"If a man is so helplessly drunk
that he can't tell where he lives and
there is no sign of his sobering up in
a short time, he is taken to a station.
In many cases, however, where a man
is only partially soused and knows
where he lives and how to get there,
he is put on the right street car and
sent on his way. The new plan has
effected a big reduction in the total
number of arrests.
"As to the justice of it, why
shouldn't the police do for the aver
age, citizen the same service they do
for a powerful politician who has
taken on more than is good for him?
"One barbarism persists. When a
husky young fellow passes the ex
amination and goes on the force,
along with his star and gun, they give
him a club. The new man fingers the
club and swings it back and forth
when he walks. He reads his rule
book carefully and finds out that
practically he can use the club just
about as he pleases.
"A policeman's plea that he smash
ed away with his club because arrest
was resisted always is accepted.
"The young policeman feels that
he isn't a poUcemariVreally and truly
Unless he whangs somebody over the
scalp once in a while with his club. It .
isn't the policeman's fault so much as
the department that puts a clubln
his hands.
The club is actually not of much
help. Policeman are picked for being
brawny and able to take care of
themselves. If there is real danger
they can pull their revolvers."
Mrs. Wolfe has spoken before the
I Will Club and suffrage organiza
tions.
' o o
There are thirty barber shops In ,
India.