Evening Star Newspaper, September 13, 1931, Page 77

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C,. SEPTEMBER 13, 1931, STUDY THIS FOR FOUR MINUTES AND SEE IF YOU'D MAKE 4 GOOD G MILES AHEAD CHARLES HOTEL NEW Standard of Intelligence tor POLICEMEN POLICEM AN, You are a motor cycle patrolman. Rounding a curve you come suddenly upon the above scene. The fleeing man fires at you, puncturing your front tires so that you are thrown into a ditch, while he gets in his car and drives away, straight down the road. The two letters he dropped as he ran arc addressed to James Gunther and are signed “B. K.,” and contain the appeal, “For God's sake don’t give me away,” and the statement, “everythin g will be made good.” In the dead man’s pocket are an automobile driver’s permit and a club membership car d bearing the name James Hadley Gunther. One bullet has been fired from the dead man’s revolver. Afl:'r looking at the picture for four minutes, hand it to some one else and have him quiz you about tt. See if you can give a full description of the fugitive, tell what make of auto he drove and describe his clothing. If you can’t you would not make a very good policeman. Today’s Officers of the Law Should Have More Brains Than Army Officers, Say Experts on Crime, and Here’s a Test to Showw Whether or Not You Would Be a HE dumb cop must go. Tre criminal has given up the blackjack in favor of the machine gun and given up his bcxing lessons in favor of study of the nature of pois- onous gases. So, too, the policeman has changed his meth- ods to keep pace with the increasing scientific knowledge of what used to be the underworld. The up-to-date police department has its laboratory, its department of ballistics, experts to whom it may 1efer for microscopic or chem- ical tests of blocd stains, bullets, fingerprints or other clues which m2y have been left at the scene of the crime. The “cop” himself is not the dumb, flat- footed guardian of the law pictured in popular detective fiction. Tru-, physique is just as im- portant to the policeman today as it ever was, and is still insisted upon by those who pick the police officers for the most efficient forces. But today, the policeman must zalso have brains! " The President’s Crime Commissicn gives as a major cause of increasing crime the lack of competent, efficient and honest patrolmen on the “beats.”” August Vollmer, expert for the commission and himself the head of a model police force, recommends that the patrolman be able to rate B on the “Alpha Intelligence Test” given to Army men during the World War. The rating of B is next to the highest that can be attained, and is equal to or greater than the mentality of half the Army’s commissioned officers up to the rank of major. Will men of such superior mental capacity take and keep jobs as policemen? That de- pends on many factors, including pay, the re- quirements insisted upon; and the degree of respect with which the citizens vicw the posi- tion. It also depends on the intelligence and general ability of the man selected as chief. OME cities have built up a police force with intelligence. The town of Palo Alto, Calif., found after two years' use of an intelligence test for the selection of policemen, that the average score of the m-n who remained on the force for that period w:s higher than the aver- age for Army officers, and higher than that re- ported as the average for freshmen at many collges. Uncle Sam sets a good example in giving mental tests to all applicants for the position of policeman in the Nation's Capital. In Washington the policemen are selected by the United States Civil Service Commission by means of a competitive examination. This city, therefore, has an advantage over some other communities where the police appoint- ments are governed by politics. As long ago as 1923 the research division undertook a special study of the Police De- partinent with the purpose of devising an examination which would not measure gen-. eral education such as knowledge of lakes and rivers, arithmetic, handwriting and so on, but which would test general adaptability and the aptitude necessary for police work. Since all the higher positions, including posi- tions of detectives, are filled by promotion in Washington, the examination was devised to Good Policeman. select men having the capacity to become eligible for advancement. Here is a statement by the United States Civil Service Commission indicating what they want in a policeman. It is obvious how far this type of officer is from the “dumb cop” type: " HEN an arrest is to be made, appre- hending the individual is but the first step. The policeman shculd also be able to secure all evidence necessary to convict the man arrested, if he is guilty. The officer should be quick and accurate in observation, able to judge what facts ordinarily will be valuable and admissible as evidence, and capable of remem- bering faces as well as of making and remem- bering associations between facts and people. “The detective often acts alone and con- fronts situations which require him to rely upon his own judgment more frequently than does the patrolman. He should be able to make important decisions quickly and accurately and to interpret the facts of a situation or the actions of men and women. “He should have the insight necessary to see to what facts a given clue might lead and he should not be led off the track by valueless clues or those purposely ‘planted.’” One of the tests devised by Uncle Sam’s ex- perts in the United States Civil Service Com- mission to test these qualities in the would-be policeman was based cn a picture representing the scene of a crime an instant after the crime was committed. The applicants were allowed to study this picture for four minutes and then were required to answer from memory questions regarding such items as the description of the victim and assailant, the appearance and make of the automobiles, color of the clothing and so on. Then, with the picture before them, they were asked such questions as whether a strug- gle had taken place, where the victim was when hit and what the apparent motive for the crime was. Here is another sample which you may try yourself to see whether you can interpret clues and weigh their values as & policeman should be able to do. EAD the following report of a crime. In- terpret the facts for what you think they are worth, then answer the questions. On March 3 a man known as “Adams” was arrested for the murder of George Brown. The murder was committed on the corner of First and Main streets, principal streets in a city of 70,000, at 7:45 on the evening of February 23, The summary of the case is as follows: 1. Sarah Lewis and Annie Bower, eastbound on First street, claim they heard the fatal shot and saw the escaping murderer, wearing a gray cap and brown overccat, cross First street about 100 feet west of Main street, and go toward Brightwood avenue. 2. On the day of admitting the crime, Adams was examined by three physicians and found to be in a highly nervous condition. 3. He both admitted and denied the shooting on the day he was taken into custody; three days later he again denied the shooting, and has continued to deny it. 4. On the day of his arrest, Sarah Lewis could not identify the prisoner as the slayer. On the following day she returned and said she thought Adams was the slayer. 5. Adams stated that on the night of thé murder he had been at the Palace Theater, which he had entered at 7 o'clock, and where he remained until after 9. Write the number of the statement, which, if verified, would most definitely establish the suspect’s innocence. Write the number of the point which tends to lessen the value of point No. 1 in the case against Adams. F course, you want to know the answers, but do not read them until you have had a chance to puzzle it out yourself. Ready? The correct answers are 5 and 4. And here are some more samples of what Uncle Sam’s policeman has had to grapple with when he takes his exam. At the end of each of the following two sen- tences write the number of the word which means the same or most nearly the same as the word at the beginning of the sentence: Small means most nearly (1) round (2) full (3) big (4) little (5) deep. Raise means most nearly (1) throw (2) lift (3) drop (4) drag (5) fill. Write the number of the best of the five sug- gested answers to the following: The chief reason why a police force is nec- essary is to- (1) preserve law and order, (2) control traffic, (3) prevent criminals from es- caping from ‘jail, (4) record finger prints, (3) direct strangers. Although policemen have many different du- ties, their chief purpose is to preserve law and order, so “l1,” the number before ‘‘preserve law and order,” is of course the correct answer in this case. Write at the end of the sentence the number of the best answer to the following: The saying, “You cannot always judge a man by his clothes,” means most nearly (1) Don't look at all men with suspicion. (2) All policemen wear badges. (3) The greatest crimes are usually carefully planned. (4) Don't trust those you don't know. (5) Appearances may be decelving. Number “5" means most nearly the same as “You cannot always judge a man by his clothes,” so write “5” on the line. HICH of these six is most unlike the other five—(1) housebreaking, (2) stealing, (3) embezzlement, (4) murder, (5) shoplifting, (6) burglary? All six are crimes, but only “murder,” which is humbered “4,” refers to human life. The others refer to property. Therefore “4” is the correct answer to this question. Read the quotation and then answer the question: “The nature of police duty requires a po- liceman to be alert concerning persons, places and happenings in ofder to prevent crime and protect life and property.” The quotation shows that a policeman on duty should be (1) obedient, (2) watchful, (3) ambitious, (4) systematic, (5) thrifty. Washington is by no means the only city using intelligence tests for the selection of po- licemen. Many cities are making use of tests devised by the Bureau of Public Personnel Ad- ministration at Washington for the use of various city civil service commissions. They are not so very different from those used by the U. S. Government. They are not designed to test knowledge of police regula- tions or the law or any of the matters on which the candidate might have crammed just before taking the examination. Rather they are meant to measure native ability to do po- lice work—such traits as observation, memory and common sense. Obviously, the man who is unobservant will be of little value on the police force. Every hour of the day the patrolman's power of ob- servation is called into play. Everything from the motor accident at the street intersection b0 the murder case to which he is assigned re- quires that he see things clearly and quickly. Even his efficiency in handling the ordinary speed law violator, the common drunk, or the petty thief, may hinge om his abflity to el serve oorrectly, e