Evening Star Newspaper, November 13, 1927, Page 11

LONDON'S POLICE SYSTEM 15 LAUDED Former Police Head Here| Sees Much of Merit in Pol- icies of British Force. BY FREDERICK A. FENNING, Former District Commissioner. A modern police station with indi | vidual bedrooms for 85 unmarried nen For the further enjoy- t of these men a library, card room, billiard room, room for boxing bouts, zymnasium, shower baths and { & canteen dispensing beer, ale and other refreshments. Where? The American police officer will an-| swer promptly: “Nowhere.” But such a station does exist and I attended its formal vpening recently on Snow Hill in the city of London. Washington has lately built new station houses in Tenleytown and ¥ wood. I was, therefore, inter- ested in what respects they and other District houses resembled this new station in London. The points of like ness were few: those of difference many. And we in Washington really believe our houses and station methods adequate, while the Brit- isher points to Snow Hill and calls it the best in the world. We built two-story buildings, lately of the bungalow type, while the new house in London is five stories in height and thirty feet in width. In Washington an effort has been made 1o have new station houses harmonize architecurally with nearby and ad- joining buildings and not be unduly conspicuous. This effect was proba- bly most nearly attained many years ago when the house for the fifth pre- cinct was built in the southeast sec. tion of the ci The same attempt has been made in London very suc- cassfully, for the new Snow Hill huilding might easily be taken for an apartment house. Bow windows are on every floor above the ground and the entire front of the four upper floors is devoted to private apartments the families of the chiet superin- tendent and the chief inspector. There sre private entrances to each apart- mient on either side of the front door. Ground Floors Similar. On the fiirst floor the ground plan i very similar to that of our stations. The ceils are lined with enamel brick and contain lo wide benches on which the priso may sleep. Each prisoner is furnished with a leather pillow and a blanket, two if desired. If a prisoner wants a bed the gaoler will make up one upon the payment of 1 shilling. Prisoners are brought to London stations by the officers who arrest them on foot and not in a conveyance. There are two exceptions to this prac- tice. One is the drunken man who is unable to navigate and who is brought in on a stretcher on wheels. The other is made when the prisoner is a soldier in uniform, since public senti. ment will not countenance the sight of a soldier in the custody of a policeman on the highway. A cab is therefore hired, the fare paid by the police, who will subsequently be reimbursed by the military authorities. From station house to court the prisoners are taken on foot. Auto- mobiles, motor cycles and bicycles are used for patrolling, but the patrol wagon which performs such varied and constant duties at our stations is not in use in London. Policemen Get Dinners. In addition to living in the club-like atmosphere of the Snow Hill station the men are given their dinners. Breakfast and tea they prepare them- selves. I inquired if it was reasonable 10 expect that any officer so housed would ever marry and thus forego auch luxuries, and was told that the department made an extra rent al- lowance to all ‘married men. One point in common in the forces of the two capitals is the police school for probationary officers. Snow Hill conducts such a school, the course covering three months and in sub- stance being very similar to that con- ducted at the seventh precinct in Washington under the supervision of Sergt. Hunt. Ja the District of Columbia there are four police forces, the Metropoli- 1an, Capitol. White House and Park Police; while London has but two, the city police and the Metro- politan police. Heart of London Force. “The city,” as it is called to distin- guish it from the district of London, covers a small area in the very heart ot London. The city force has about 1,000 men and is directed by a com- missioner elected by the city council, with the approval of the King. He holds office until he reaches the age of retirement. All officers and men are retired at 65, except under some special circumstances, when acti service may be extended for not over five vears. The Metropolitan police, 21,000 strong, cover all of London and out- lving sections_except the small area of the city. The minimum height of these men is 5 feet 9 inches; in the city police it is 5 feet 10. In Washing- ton the minimum height is 5 feet 8 inches. The entrance pay for both London forces is (in United States eurrency) $2.50 a day, which is exactly one-half the pay of a probationer in the District of Columbia. To be sure, the London policeman receives a small rent allowance, but his pay is subject 10 a deduction for the retirement fund. The London officer, as is now the case in Washington, receives an allowance for uniforms, and in addition he is given an allowance for keeping his “boots” in repair. ‘frafic in London is entirely con- trolicd by the policemen. There are no light signals or other automatic traffic controls. From my own close personal observation I am far from be- ing that the regulation of traffic in don would be improved by the in- ion of automatic devices. In st analysis, a machine is a ma- chine and lacks the human element. Tt is this human element as exempli- fled by the quiet, alert and intelligent policemen that Kkeeps the enormous such a city as London on the Of course, the officers are aid- regulations which prohibit downtown parking and otherwise limit parking 10 two hours save in certain outlying scctions, where a maximum of four hours is allowed. Incidentally, these regulations dispose of the ques- tion of ht parking, since four hours outside limit. Cruising Ts Banned. Cruising of vacant taxicabs is re- garded ® an unnecessary use of the public thoroughfares and an interfer- ence With traffic—so is prohibited, the occasional violator promptly arrested. Honking of horns is considered an un- necessary noise and only permissible in an emergency. In & number of places, the Mall for example, busses travel between paint- ed lines and are not permitted to weave in and out among automobiles The proportion of motor accidents is Jow, except with regard to those of motor cv In November the pre- mium rate on motor cycle insurance is being increased 25 per cent, and the Jarge companies are discouraging young and inexperienced drivers from epplying for insurance. As in Washington, in London the aubject of woman police is a frequent topic of discussion and argument. There are none on the city force and but 50 1n the Metropolitan department. These 50 women are not centered in one station, as at the House of De. tention in Washington, but are scat- throughout the police distriet Perhaps this i3 the reason why the woman police in London have not Upper:_Snow Hill Building, whicl houses 83 unmarried police. Lower: Sir Willlam T. F. Horwood, commis sioner of police of the metropoli been more conspicuous. Tt is reported that the home secretary is about to in vestigate the question as 1o or not a force of women is a1 junet to & police organization constables in other large cities in Eng land have recently expressed them selves us opposed to the appointment of women to the force. It musi b added, in fairness, that these views have come from cities which have had no experience with woman police Police Have No Guns. The London policeman carries no gun. When I asked a sergeant why this is so, he replied that he could do enough damage with his stick. The baton is somewhat shorter than that carried by members of the Washing- | ton force and is carried in the hip| pocket. I pursued the i r-| ther and asked ranking of | each of the forces if their men might not, sometimes at least. save their own | lives if furnished with automatics. THe answer from the metropolitan of- ficer was that there had been one in- stance in nine years in which it was at all likely that had the policeman been armed he could have saved him- self. And the chief officer of the city, of over 40 years' service, recalled only one instance in_that period, adding that the men who did the fatal shoot- ing came from America. UPRIGHT MODELS $19 up! Traded-in and Shopworn CONSOLE AND SONORA COLUMBIA VOCALION All Styles, Sizes and Woods in This One-Day Sale SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, promptly handed a deportation order. Foreignerz of anti-social tendencies [know this and govern themselves ac- cordingly. 1t is dificult to conceive of a more independent administration than that of the commissioner of police of the | metropolis, which is the title of Sir| William T. ¥. Horwood, in charge of | the metropolitan police. He is ap pointed by the King, on recommenda- !tlon of the secretar f . and s office until he r retire- | age. The London County Coun- | has nothing to do with his appoint. | ment or his tenure of office. Likewise, | the commissioner is in no manner sub | servient to members of Parliament. | The commissioner four assistant commissioners in charge, respectively, of the blue force (uniformed men), traffic, eriminal investigation (Scotland YVard) and legal matters. Thus it is that_the Metropolitan force is not only | wholly divorced from politics and not |in any way affected by political | changes, but also has its own complete and compact administrative organiza | tion. The single oblization of the com | missioner and the 21,000 men under | ! him is the enforcement of the law. With a general knowledge of police systems-in the United States and an | intimate knowledge of the organiza- | tion, personnel and functioning of the | Metropolitan Police of the District of | Columbia, 1 have just spent a week | in an intensive study and critical ob | servation of the police departments of | London. 1 have had audiences with | the conuntssioner of police | ‘ Made Intensive Study. | | of the eity police, talked with officers |and men by the score and visited | many of the police stations. For hours I have traveled the streets | of London—sumetimes aione and at | sthers with members of the force— | vatching traffic control and observ- ling the personnel of the two fi | And I have discussed the police citizens and with the police reporters )n_ theslarge daily papers. | I believe that from every point of | view London is wonderfully policed. It |may well be that certan practices, such, for example, as the housing— | will never find favor in the minds of |the American people. Taken by and | large, however, in the future develop- | ment of the police system of the Cap- | ital of the United States there should | be much food for thought in a study {of the excellent system that has been developed in the capital of Great Britam. | ALUMNI TO HAVE DANCE. | Central Dramatic Group to Frolic| Next Month. | The annual dance of Tha Masks, the alumni club of the Central Dramat- ic Association, will probably be held in the ballroom of the Press Club next month, it was announced follow- ing a meeting at the home of Frederic J. Haskin, jt., at the Potomac Park Apartments, Several privates told me that if they | The dance committee is composed were furnished with pistols they |0f J. T. Hare and Miss Nell Childs, ould likelv never use them for fear | Miss Erma Steiger and Miss Dorothea of shooting innocent bystanders. Pos. | Lewis sibly the real reason why a zun is not an accepted part of a lLondon police- man’s equipment is that the popula- tion. being <h, has an inborn re- | spect for the law and its representa-| tives. Moreover, judicial processes are swift and punishment sure, espe- cially to an offender who fires on .a man known to be unarmed. If there | is reasonable ground for believing a ! foreigner to be dangerous, he s/ Repairs for FURNACES & BOILERS Fries, Beall & Sharp 734-736 10th St. N.W. . Every traded-in phonograph has been placed in this sale—prices cut to rock-bottom—to be sold in one day—phonographs for every purpose —some adaptable for radio. Prices good for one day—tomorrow. KEarly shoppers get the best bargains. ALL VICTROLAS ARE EQUIPPED WITH THE D _C, BANDIT ELUDES POSSE| IN MOUNTAIN SEARCH | Reading Hold-up Man Continues to| Escape Net After $22,000 Theft. By the Associated Press. READING, Pa. November Hiding in the wooded thickne: the Welsh Mountains, a lone * wced” robber, who Thursday black Birdsboro postal clerk and iast night still eluded some of the eran State police and 300 heavily armed citizens who were spurred on by an offer of $5,000 reward “dead or for once Thursday nizht, group of State pelice were fired on, not a single trail has been | found of the man who, when closely pressed, disappeared into the Hope. | well Hills and left behind a ditched automobile, $15,000 of the loot and a can of shoe polish that he had used to cover his face Officers stood guard all day at the Plowville home of Frank Glass, 30, whose automobile was used by the bandit and who was in Birdshoro the night before the holdup. Glass is missing from his home and volice re ported he had not shown up at the ice plant near Coatesville where he was | employed for several davs. Deserip tions and pictures of him have been | broadeast by the State police Capt. Samuel W. 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