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Show I REVIEW. A4 November 24 1965 ( i I I t Editorials I Too Much Brass In City Police Editorial Comment: The Salt Lake City police Department last week selected The Review in which to make the public aware of a program of progressive development part of it imminent, part of it long-ran- ge in police administration. Each of the areas of development have, through example and publication, received the endorsement of the Public Administration Service, for whose advice Salt Lake City and County recently paid a modest $5,000. It is significant that the city police and Salt Lake County Sheriffs have adopted or announced intentions to adopt PAS programs-tha- t will save more than five times $5,000 annually on "free advice" given by the PAS representatives. The Review is inspired by the reorganization plans as announced by Police Chief Ralph C. Knudson and his assistant phiefs. Inspiration, however, may be modified sharply by reflection upon past experience and future possibility. Is Chief Knudson determined to effect reorganization with economy and efficiency as his primary objectives? Or, will steps involving economy and efficiency serve as veils to distort public view of what appears to us as an administrative heirarchy? already top-hea- The i I ; - vy segment of the New Metropolitan Hall of Justice, condemned verbally by the PAS representatives as a mistake that should be rented out for an office building at present and, a public safety building constructed, matches the power structure of the city police department. A recent tour of the high-ri- se conducted by Asst. Chief C. C. Whitehead for a representative of The Review disclosed on floor after floor a maze of cells for captains, lieutenants, sergeants and other special personalities serving at premium salaries ( while rank and file go unrewarded). The question has long remained dormant, but with imminent occupation of the high-ri- se with the announced plan for reorganization - arises again: Is the plan for reorganization a smoke screen for the creation of more brass to occupy the cells of the high-rte- e? The police administration armounces plans to develop a motor pool. It does not mention that recently a sergeant was, assigned to motor vehicle control. Is a sergeant to keep track of parked autos? To check the need for repairs as discovered and reported by rank and file? To implement policies of assignment and replacement determined at higher levels? Or will the sergeant be a pad and pencil man a producer of memoranda as is the captain who this function for the Salt Lake County-- . "rforms complicated eriff? Does a sergeancy for the' motorf.pool create aT .rgeant vacancy for the man at the top of the eligibility high-ri- se ist? The administration reveals development of a commendable physical fitness program, and has vigorously recruited a sergeant to implement it. Does the job require a sergeant? Or does it merely create room for another sergeant? Salt Lake City, on Nov. 1, had 314 total personnel. Of these 71 are brass" in responsibility or pay. Of 254 officer Of the total 70 are in the brass" scale. Personnel, Inside serving the 191 outside. Tne question arises: Is it necessary to have a captain and two sergeants directing five patrolmen in a vice squad which is assigned largely to checking out the identification and age of patrons at taverns and cigarette machines; a function that could be handled by uniformed officers who drive by the same taverns and grocery stores? The question arises: Is it proper balance to have a lieutenant, three sergeants; a technician with sergeants pay, in the crime commanding two patrolmen and a clerk-typi- st laboratory? A lonely sergeant, for many months has had a minimum of trouble supervising nine patrolmen, three matrons and two clerk-typis- ts in a city jail once commanded by a and a lieutenant. captain Could there be a problem in quality of sergeant slection? Shortly after the visit of the PAS team, who recommended such a program, the police administration announced that it was creating a planning department. A lieutenant was named to the post. The man named is a capable officer and capable of learning police planning. He was not, a of officer lieutenant however, planning quality at the time of his appointment. Was the appointment to create a vacancy? Or was it to utilize a footloose lieutenant? Throughout the west, complaint desks are manned by clerks or cadets receiving clerk pay. City police mans its complaint desk with sergeants (not too long ago also with lieutenants) who are competently relieved by clerks. Are these sergeants being held on the shelf until new responsibilities can be created for them? Every progressive, economical development in recent city police history seems to create sergeancies, who, of course, must be commanded by lieutenants, who are needed I t i to provide responsibility for captains, who, in turn, enlarge the significance of assistance chiefs to the pride and glory of the chief of police. When a chief deputy of the Los Angeles Sheriffs department was in Utah last spring to help in reorganization of the county sheriffs organization, he was asked what brass" Los Angeles County would assign if it were contracted to provide police service for a city the size of Salt Lake City. He replied: a captain, five lieutenants and 25 sergeants. Records and automated sections of the police housekeeping functions in recent years, while installing facilities and programs designed for economy, have shown a tendency to produce the maximum that can be produced, not the minimum that is required, or even the minimum that is desirable; the philosophy seems to be : Lets show them the savings here and hide the waste over there. There is the tendency to provide answers to any question that might be asked from any quarter of the city, the state or the western states; not just those questions, the answers to which will, in fact, add to the efficient productivity of the department. For sometime, Mayor J. Bracken Lee has been saying, without explanation, that the police department has too much brass. He has failed to say how to diminish the high-ris- e. The word attrition, a dirty word to this type of administrative development, appears to be missing from the mayor's vocabulary. Mayor Lee almost found the Aord when he said that city police could get a small pay increase if Chief Knudson did not replace the shortage on his roster. The mayor to voted then promptly permit replacement of the 10 drop outs. The police administration, with equal promptness, took on 12 (not 10) replacements, apparently on the premise that death, injury, old age or plain economic starvation of the rank and file will have claimed at least two more men before the 12 can finish basic training. The push for par in personnel, history would indicate, rides in and out on the tides of rumor that the rank and file 10-m- an want a raise. Adoption of new ideas, constant reorganization to accommodate new ideas and changing law enforcement problems, are desirable. Recent (beginning with W. Cleon Skousen) administrations in Salt Lake City have demonstrated commendable initiative in acquiring ideas and facilities. We think that the sheriffs department would be more inclined to cooperate and coordinate if the city agency were as didicated t o efficiency in the application of ideas an facilities as it is dedicated to their acquisition. If the police department is looking for more areas in which to put sergeants, we would remind the administration of a comment made by Asst. Chief Whitehead when he conducted us on a tour of the high-ris- e: This is the top. It cant go any higher than this. And Next Year?? The next month is a critical one for Salt Lake County The Review will since annual budgets are determined. and on much information this, hopes that taxpayers carry will take sufficient interest in the county's costs to express their feelings to the commission at the hearing later this month. The One Item of interest ,is automobile. allowances. for-the1964. 1963 and In in $69r798 coww, zpeni $59,581 certainly be higher for this year, but Is not readily seen as a total budget item, since it is broken down by departments. In many cases department budgets dont increase drastically from year to year . . . but the reason often derives from slush funds, existing but unused while other budgets go deep into the red. There is an average of 65 people on car allowance in various departments - it flncuates from month to month. In only one of these departments is a mileage report required and allowance paid on the basis of cents per mile. In all other departments the stipends are in the form of flat allowances - a practice which might be as questionable to the Bureau of Internal Revenue as it should be to county taxpayers. The recreation department pays eight cents per mile. In other departments allowances vary from $25 per month to $100. The county commissioners get cars from the county, but their administrative assistants get allowances of $80 per month. We believe the assistants shouldbe reimbursed when actually using their cars for county business, but $80 per month at eight cents per mile means they would have to travel 50 miles per working day on county business to warrent that much - which means an average of three hours out of the office each day . . . and any reporter ty beat knows full well that just covering the The . city-coun- isnt the case. The biggest spender in the auto allowance field is the roads and bridges department. At the end of October they had 27 people on allowances of $100 per month and five on allowances of $50 per month. During 1963 this department spent $17,078 on auto allowances, $21, 338 during 1964. They budgeted $16,000 for 1965 and to the end of October had spent $24,950. Roads and bridges superintendent Woolas Macey defends the practice, saying the arrangement might be unfair to vehicle owners. The roads and bridges department buys gas in bulk at a low price Mr. Macey boasts that the 32 people on car allowance arent allowed to buy gas for county use at the roads and bridges pumps. If these people are truly using their cars for county use, it would mean the gas is going for county purposes . . . why shouldnt they buy it at the county's lower price? We have no objection to automobile allowances for private cars actually used on county business. We do maintain that taxpayers are entitled to a fair break - which includes some detail on the justification for the allowances - a.normal and sensible business procedure. Rody MomtmDJgyWfy Published every Thursday by Wester New. lac. Offices Silt Uie Telephone. st 2245 South West City, Utoh Ml IS Mmgwf is-em-su( eutr - WflCrwd cirteuDoe Cksstfiei AteertUtec Temple Afertlstnf Cm Mm Deft - fro N Wtfctef tlui 4I7-14- Co Publisher Ports Orest Stephen Rosenblatt sod Managing Editor Rosenblatt Mi tort SUIT . Joyce Stout Geo Toeeeeod Jim BaJdwia Mtter st toa Catered M seeaud Post Office st AUt Uk City. Otoh tbs set st Kirtl L Csmsr ssfcsertpttos B OO pur year irt Mail NbsertptU H put yeJ Uhy....what if the Governor were a dictator!!! THE MORNING . AFTER (Continued from page 1 ) the Capone of the 60 s.... one small detail, though, it Just isn't true Hes cocky, still under 20 and little flabby all over. He looks like he prowls at night and sleeps with the shades drawn against the sunlight. This is the teacher! 1 like to plan my jobs alone. ...do it all myself. Then if I get picked up, I got myself to blame. I got caught this time and I wasnt alone. You guys, you deputies was stupid... bov was you stupid, I tell yuh. 1 had yuh beat if I didnt cop out. I had my defense oo search and siezure. He was with another boy, owner of The other boy said the getaway car. go ahead search the car. But I didn't tell you you could search The money and the gun was my bag. In my bag. I took my bag from the car. You was unlawful search and siezure when you got into my bag without a warrant. The deputies challenged this. ...they said the judge and jury just might have something to say about his search and siezure defense. At least I had somethin to throw before them he boasted. 1 usually make a mask outta an old shirt before t'get reedy to go out on a job . t j if the cl$R "f sited, bow Cm member he got himself In the right frame of mind. I take Bennies (benSometimes sometimes sleeping zedrine tablets) pills." "They help get rid of the butterflies. They help build up the courage I need for what Im gonna do. And they help roe so Im fast on the reflexes. Whafs this Fast on the reflexes?? cluck trying to sell. ...man hes wild. He wants the cops to understand that they dont face all the perils in perof their professional funcformance tions. The hardest part?.... getting in without being noticwl. People watch you if theyre suspicious, then Its too easy to be fingered after, if you get caught. The student detectives pop questions at the willing teacher. How many robberies you pulled? Nine, all told. How many you do alone? How many you have help with? (Detectives dont like the (censored) identities of their teachers broadcast. Might make someone in the robbery busi- ness jealous.) "If you get in a place unnoticed, next hardest part is pulling it; then it goes fast. For a rod he likes the 22 caliber revolver. lf I want to It's deadly, he says. kill I can; if not, its safe. Arent you scared of the death penalty? I got nothing to live for. Nah! Would you kill If a victim resisted? Sure. Why notHe reads this This guy a psycho? stuff somewhere. But, about the way he pulls a mbberv: He preters to work alone. If there's s second man, he likes to come up to the scene in a stolen car; then abandon it and leave it in a second stolen car operated by his helper. He goes Into a place with the gun cocked. Yeh. Id kill if anyone crossed mo. Then there's that stuff about hoping to get sent to a federal joint. Better rehab in a federal Joint, he says Lousy rehab out at the Point, be says I talked to a lawyer about him Nine robberies? The guy is a petty He s been caught crook. He's stupid everytime he pulled a job. The guy s sick, the lawyer said The teacher is back behind County Jail bars waiting to go up to the Joint. He was caught in bis last robbery - Utah Ft to Preus Atsocfekflt Rrvzpaper RsfrsseetoOees (Continued from page 1) Authority and Library; retained as formerly assigned, finance, custodian, building engineer, county building, purchasing fire department, ambulance. Metropolitan Hall of Justice, Capital Improvements, Community Services Council, youth development and grounds. In explaining the decision to place the Flood Control program under a single commissioners responsibility, Mr. Jenson noted that he had reservations when the Salt Lake County Flood Control Advisory Board first asked the commission to put flood control under the three commissioners. Since that time, Mr. Jenson stated, the flood control program has not functioned as well as it should have done. He recommended the change so that the interests of the citizens may be best served and the duties and functions of the department may be discharged more efficiently and thoroughly. Mr. Jenson said that each of the commissioners has been reluctant to exercise authority, For fear that they lacked the authority to act. Mr. Jenson emphasized, in assigning his two colleagues to study the proposal for the coming week, that he was not requesting immediate action.. ..merely a study of the proposed. Commissioner Creer agreed that under the present system the program has "been sitting on dead center. 'The program has not advanced at all since it was placed under the commission as a whole, Mr. Jenson saia. Mr Jenson observed that all functions of flood control should be under a single department. Moments later he introduced the which program for realignment, showed a section of flood control under Roads and Bridges and Mr. Jenson. Commissioner Jenson then entered debate with Mr.Creer with the announcement that there would be no traffic engineer employed by Salt Lake County In 1966. Mr. Jenson said that the county can rely (Continued on page Letters A 2) To The Editor Lets Hear It For The GOP Loyal fans, stand up and cheer The merits of J. Preston Creer A chap who yearns to earn his pay As Marv and Bill strip Jobs away The County is run in a curious way One, on the railroad to earn his pay T'other mingles with horse and mink J.P.'s Job continues to shrink While Consider, though, for all of that Each one Is a Democrat. Ray Higgins Yalecrest Avenue Salt Lake City, Utah 1785 editor's note: True enough, and wise, Ray Higgins Your words on Demo shenanigans But the GOP must ponder as they laugh Can they find anyone who'll stand that gaff? Hospital Costs (Continued frorfi pige 1 ) procedures asserted meanwhile that lithe failure to Include the failure to disperse t dog, bite action in the initial report is common procedure, it is procedure of recent vintage Even since police administrators, after discussions wth M. yor J Brarken lee last spring on revised police reporting procedures, began w.thhold.ng all supplementary reports to initial action, press observers note, there have teen incidents of crowd dispersal and dog moping incidental to the original compl-untand these facets of the lnvesiigatiin have be-- n included in the initial teport . Member A meric Creer: In Tent if Mto HfN of foi-j- f 'ftol of press protested that the change would have the effect of enabling police to cover up officer misconduct or questionable police action at will The officers assigned to the family fight reoorted that the victim wife was transported to a hospital for treatment, wyiie making no reference to an Injury incidental to the case in which 22 sutures were required to close the bite wound caused by a police animal Dr. Duncan said that no one accused his c ient of any offense to the time the complaint was filed Nov , oof cojtd a complaint be found Mmday afternoon when -- police administration MrTte tn representatives the office of the rifv at- - |