OCR Text |
Show A (NOD IWIOTN Brawn aud Brain round United in OLieimiati's Knights of the Club. 'i. - ..,.- i in. NOT BOSSED BY POLITICIANS. An Exceptionally Pine To.roe of Guardians of Law and Order to Be Pound in Ohio's Chief City. CINCINNATI lays claim to having hav-ing oho of 1 lie finest police forces in tin: country. For many years prior to 1885 it was the rival ii ro ami servant of l!iO mayor, changed through-mil. through-mil. with every revolution of the wheel of political fortune, lit 1HK5 a law was passed creating a board of police com- nna cimuren wmio uuder ponce onargs, and has received complimentary mention by the National Police Reform association. The house of detention is in charge of two matrons, and in every part is its neat and tloanly as woman's art can make it. There is n police gymnasium in which roambers of the force, patrolmen and officers, offi-cers, are required to excrciso every day. It is one of tho finest in the west. This is under un-der the personal supervision of tho inspector, inspec-tor, and in addition to ordinary gymnastic exercises there is regular military drill, the force being divided into six companies of forty eight men each, with tho addition of a gun squad, all properly officered. Here also tho men reeoivo instruction in the laws and ordinances that they ore charged with enforcing, and there is special instruction in-struction as to first treatment of the victims vic-tims of accident. Promotions are all on merit of civil service examinat ions, with probation as to practical executive ability. Gold medals are awarded for excellence in knowledge of police duties and of the law, aud 1 here is a roll of honor for distinguished distinguish-ed bravery. The physical standard of the force is higher than t bat of the United States army. The minimum height of United States army recruits is 5 feet 7K inches. That of the Cincinnati police force is 6 feet flinches, and most of the men appointed are between 5 foot 10 inches and 6 feet, and of proportionate propor-tionate weight ami development. . The superintendent or chief is Col. Phil Deitsch, an old soldier, who served in the regular army from 1S57 to 18t55, in the Fourth United States infantry. He was with Sheridan on the frontier and Inter with Pykes' division of the Army of the Potomac, being wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. He is a strict disciplinarian, an organizer of (superior ability, and the commissioners have always found him abreast of the most advanced notion as to the discipline and morale of the fore. He Is incorruptible and a persistent enemy of corruption and crime and criminal of all grades. Inspector Hadley is a veteran police officer, of-ficer, who has reached his present responsible responsi-ble position from patrol by reason of his merit and trustworthiness. Ho is as thoroughly equipped in practical experience experi-ence as any police officer in tbe country. The chief of detectives, Lorry Hazen, is known throughout the length and breadth of the United States among tho profession for his work in detecting and exposing crime, and during an interim of his separation separa-tion from tbe city force on account of partisan par-tisan antagonism was intimately associated associ-ated with the Pinksrtons. COL. DEITSCH AND CAPT. 11AZKN. tnlsAonsts, but it was still a partisan organization, or-ganization, inasmnoh as it was designed to divest tbe uayor, who was of the opposite pansy, of his authority over the force. At amt public sentiment grew so strong that si lie w law was enacted. Under its terms the board consists of two Republicans and two Democrats. It is appointed by the governor, and is administrative with nasi-judicial functions. The mayor is the executive head of the force, and nominates tor appointment. The board confirms or Dejects, and to determine the availability and eificiency of nominees has established n. civil service system of examinations. ' Another merit of tbe law is that it is so framed a to make it impossible, nnless by an almost Inconceivable collusion, Ar the farce to be the creature of the arbitrary 'whim or personal or political bias of either the mayor or the board. . . The practical demonstration of the success suc-cess of the guiding principle of the mayor and the board is in the fact that complaints com-plaints of police Interference at elections are now unheard of. A memorandum of the politics of appointees was formerly made, bat that practice ceased about two years ago. As far probably as can be expected, ex-pected, the police force and the administration adminis-tration of the department are non-partisan In fact a well as in name. All power of removal or suspension, after trial, is absolute abso-lute in the board, and all appointments continual during good behavior, and removals re-movals cannot be made except for cause, upon charges. This applies to the superintendent super-intendent as well as to all subordinates. Among the reforms incident to the withdrawal with-drawal of the police force from the influence influ-ence of partisan politics has been a close tmforcement of the laws. One of tbe most delicate questions with which the department depart-ment has had to deal has been the Eundny question, which shook the city from center cen-ter to circumference for a long time. Yet It ha handled it with a dignified consideration consider-ation for the feeling of these personally concerned without sacrificing a jot of the MOUNTED rOLIOE PATBOU The numerical strength of the force iu Its respective grades is assigned to ten police po-lice stations and nine police patrol stat ions, covering and patrolling an area of twenty-five twenty-five square miles. Thers are Sufl patrolmen, patrol-men, mounted and on foot, and the force, including officers, is 477. The strict discipline disci-pline to which patrolmen are subjected h?s resulted in securing a superior body of men, both physically and mentally, and there is public confidence that the force can be depended on in any emergency that may arise. It is the vigoiw,j;telli-gant vigoiw,j;telli-gant co-operation of t c .i the enforcement of WOP61 established estab-lished the past rk lal Nityfor peace and order ano; a .om from gambling and grosser The police patrol system cyc'incinnati is the most efficient in tbe country. Several new patrol houses have lately been erected erect-ed that for perfection of appointments are not excelled. This branch of the service is under command of Lieut. Thomas A. Duffy, a veteran police officer of excellent axecuUve ability. The equipment is nine wagons, fifty-five men, a prison van, forty-five forty-five horses, one hundred and seventy street lignwl boxes and all the requisite paraphernalia. parapher-nalia. Another feature of reseat introduction is the mounted police for suburban patrol. There are at present twelve of these,' but arrangements are being perfected for tho enlargement of this important service. The equipment is modeled after that of the United Stat.es cavalry service, tbe saddle being the regulation one of the army, and the uniform and other equipments as nearly near-ly corresponding as the conditions of the police service will permit. In addition to a system of reward for perfection in manual and for distinguished service there is a relief fund for the care of officers disabled in the service, and of the families of those who lose their lives in the discharge of duty. Tbe conditions are total disability or fifteen years' service, and an ago limit of fifty years. There are also sick benefits. The total oost of the force for the year 1889 wns$40tt,195.61, and on Jan. 1 there was a balance to the credit of the department of 130,833, making the total receipts for the conduct of the police service of the city a little over half a million dollars. Tho expenditures ex-penditures on account of the patrol service were nearly 125,000, and this year there will be important extensions of this indispensable indispen-sable service. Tho department headquarters are at present temporarily on Fourth street, and will so contuiue until the completion of tbe new city hall, in which lilwral assignment assign-ment of space has been made for the offi- . "TKK WAHOJr" RKADT TOR A KCN. ntois of the department. The present board Of commissioners is composed of James Boyle and Louis Werner. Republicans, and Thomas C. Minor and MiloG. Dodds, Democrats, Dem-ocrats, Boyle, Dodds and Minor having been on the board since its creation in I881. Geo. S. McDowell. LIEUT. DOFTT AJTO CAPT. liADLE?. '! Another notable reform achieved is the nf orcemeut of the law against gambling. Ifefore the existence of the present board the gamblers practically controlled the politicians of both parties, and kept "open house" under all administrations by a liberal lib-eral donation of earnings to the rival campaign cam-paign fnnds, thus placing both .arties finder obligation to them. This city was thou a favorite resort of gamblers, who brought with them their usual attendance of experts in lesser aud greater crime. They were a powerful adversary to contend with, and to meet the emergency special power was given tho board as to gambling, so that if by any chance a mayor should be elected by that influence and fail to enforce the law, the board could assume direct executive execu-tive control of tho force for that purpose. Thin u the only quoliiication of the mayor's executive authority over the force. The effect of this safeguard is that gambling, as a public institution, has been suppressed in Cincinnati The establishment of a hutue of detention deten-tion for females and minor prisoners is another an-other valuable reform. The organization of this branch is entirely original, t he systems sys-tems of other cities being coauidered too expensive. Next to maintaining the effi-cjenjy effi-cjenjy and discipline of the force, it is the most practical reform made under the new police regime. It Is the most practical solution so-lution in operation anywhere of this most perplexing of police problems tho care of female and minor prisoners. Heretofore they ware, upon arrest, thrown promiseu-uUilT promiseu-uUilT into rp.'ls in the Oon !-! irtatir.n. wnnre they came In contact with tho most dfasoluta and depraved, though it may have been their own first offense. In this particular the old system was a nursery of crime. Now such persons are taken to the nearest station house snd held in tiie oflic until the arrival of the "'detention 'ous," in.whicfa they are talicn to the houe of detention, where t.liey are graded according accord-ing to their erimiiml record and ihe nature of tlieir otfeusc The system has co.ui.let-lv-xuiiUjtimied the tntaunent of womea |