Show VAGRANCY VAGUE TERM TERMAS TERMAS AS USED IN ORDINANCE Order of Chief of Police Intended to Rid City of Dissolute Characters Put Into Effect p I With Extreme Difficulty Acting Chief of Police Pollee John B Burbidge I is difficulty In securing the successful execution of his order Intended to drive alt all ot of the undesirable and disso dissolute dissolute lute idlers illiers from time the city Some left Im immediately mediately after atter the Issuance ot of the order but man of the dass at which the order was consorts of fallen women and anI refused to go goIn goIn In order to enforce this order several of those who have remained In time the Cit city I have been arrested on the charge of n a grancy granc usually regarded as a sort of gen general pral eral offense covering mIscellaneous crimes not otherwise specified The rho charge is hard to prove proe and in man many Instances Cl CIty l Prosecutor p J Dal Daly has refused to Is Issue issue sue complaints complaint against prisoners prisoner because of the lack ot of evidence necessary to con convict convict S vict THe Officers Task To illustrate th the difficulty of time the police in handling this branch of oC criminals one may take an almost dall daily Incident in the work of any tn patrolman The officer sees a man apparently doing nothing for a livelihood save consorting with an aban abandoned donld woman and receiving from her the illicit earnings ot of the brothel The police policeman man mall cla classifies time the man mall as no JOO good goodlie L lie He watches him and knows Inos that he tre fre saloons and resorts and has no means mans of support The man Is obviously a vagrant und and the officer ar arrests arrests rests him himIn himIn In police court Lime lite question is isa isa a different one The prisoner hires an at torne and fights the case In almost nine out of oC ten cases the accused Is dis discharged I charged Time The policeman making the ar arest est and anI several policemen ot of adjoining I beats testify that they have never neer seen the me mci do an any work that he lives In time the thet t tenderloin district among the denizens of street a ad d that he patron patronizes patronizes izes low saloons Even with this tahoe dence bf bere Ire time the court time the result Is al almost almost most an acquittal The rhe attorney for the delouse argues that his client I Inot is not net R a vagrant because lecause of time the fi fact t that the officer never saw him work For Ight time the court ourt knows lie he might have an beell at Work at some other time in tie te da day when the patrolman was not on dut duty Must Have Evidence ShIN Simmee tilt the order of the chief went into have been Ired about a dozen discharged from custody custod because of n a sl Ual ot of affairs Assistant City Cit Attorney P J T Dal Daly says he will decline to issue complaints complaint for any more of th hs class s he be Is satisfied with Ut thA to be offered Under the dt city ordinance there are s sev coa I class ot of vagrants Every person without visible means of living who has the ability to Work and who does docs not for the ttE space ot of five fhe days das seek seel cm ulo nor labor when hen employment Is offered him comprise one class of va vagrants Vagrants grants This Is time the class the of officers leers rind Find difficult to convict The burden ot of the proof under tIme the construction ot of the ordinance b by the court rests on the pros prosecution The does not have to prove proe that lie he has an any means ot of support that he Is working or that he has sought work If the city cannot establish the charges contained In the clause referred to the prisoner is discharged As to Beggars Every Ever healthy beggar who solicits alms aims as a business constitutes another clasS elas I contemplated b by time the ordinance The proof in these eases Is somewhat simpler and for that rea reason on there are but few able bodied bg beggars ars In the elt city Idle or dl diso so solute lute persons or associates of known knon thieves who wander about time the streets at atlate atlate late or unusual hours of time the night or who sleep in places other than those kept for lodging purposes without permission of the owners Is 18 the general and somewhat Incomprehensible of a class against which prosecutions are sl seh brought because ot of the uncertainty ot Of the wording wordin of t e clause lause Common drunkards common prostitutes s and at lewd and dissolute persons are arc also classed as vagrants Need Law LawA A vagrancy ordinance in which time the def det of a vagrant leaves no froom room for doubt Is what the police department Is praying for In Iii some eases cases have b been en made with prisoners to plead guilty to the charge with time the understand understandIng j lug Ing that the they were to receive d sentences on condition oat nat the they leave the city elty This arrangement Often orten falls fails be because because cause the declines to Issue complaints on the round ground that the evi ei deuce dence is insufficient Unless special laws are arc provided to meet the contingency or unless the criminal branch of the city at atI office relaxes in its strict adherence I once ence to the legal phase of time the tien tic n Acting Chief order seems likely likel to be of little avail In ridding time thi is 18 probably the greatest me menace city of w at mInce nace to its parasitical or 01 the tt tl |