This book is included in the US Government: Educational, Informational & Motivational section.
Foreword This study, which I undertook at the invitation of the Bureau of Social Hygiene, as a companion volume to European Police Systems, was practically completed when the United States entered the war in 19 17. Thereafter for over two years and a half my time was so occupied that there was no opportunity to get the manuscript ready for the press. Only recently have I had leisure to finish it, and its publication now is due largely to my associate, Mr. Leonard V. Harrison, whose research and investigation in the last six months have brought my material up to date. The book is based upon personal study of the police in practically every city in the United States with a population exceeding 100,000, and in many communities of lesser size. In all, seventy-two cities were visited, and Mr. Harrison has recently duplicated my itinerary of several years ago to discover any alterations or new developments in the police situation occurring in the interval. During the last year, too, I have had an opportunity to follow up certain lines of research in London and Paris, so that the comparisons between European and American conditions occurring in the book are based upon the latest information available. I am very glad to have the opportunity of making grateful acknowledgment of the aid and assistance which I received from police officers and other municipal officials throughout the country. It is impossible to mention by name all those to whom my thanks are due, but I may perhaps be permitted to testify in this general way to the patience and courtesy with which I was everywhere treated. I am under peculiar obligations to Professor William Bennett Mimro of Harvard University, Dr. Walter Laidlaw of the New York City 1920 Census Committee, Professor Felix Frankfurter of the Harvard Law School, and Colonel Arthur Woods of New York, for their thoughtful and discriminating criticism of portions of the manuscript which they were kind enough to read. In justice to these gentlemen, however, I hasten to acquit them of any responsibility for the statements made and the opinions expressed in this book, or for any errors of omission or commission. The book is mine, and I am solely responsible for it. Finally, it is my privilege to acknowledge the generous assistance and counsel of Mr. Harrison, who has been associated with the investigation from the beginning, and the long-tried patience and faithfulness of my secretaries, Mrs. Jasper J, Mayer, and Miss Helen T. Wisherd. Raymond B. Fosdick. 233 Broadway, New York City, August 5, 1920. Table of Contents Foreword CHAPTER I - THE AMERICAN PROBLEM Contrast between European and American police.— American police problem far more difficult.— Heterogeneity of America's population.— Preponderance of crime in America. —Comparative statistics : murder, burglary, robbery.— Relation of heterogeneity to crime.—The relation of court procedure to the police problem.— The law's delays.— The technicalities of procedure.— Faulty personnel on the bench. — The sentimental attitude of the public.— Relation of unenforceable laws to American police problem.— Sumptuary laws.— Borderland between live and dead law.— Embarrassment of the police. CHAPTER II - THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN POLICE CONTROL The early beginnings: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati.—The intermediate period.— Opposition to uniforms. — Mob rule.— The rise of police boards.— The development of state control in police systems.— The New York example of 1857.— The extension of state control systems.— The bi-partisan board.— The passing of the police board.— The character of the development.— The search for mechanical perfection.— Politics in the development of the police. CHAPTER III - THE PRESENT STATE OF POLICE CONTROL State versus municipal control.— Successes of state control.—Failures of state control. —State control in relation to home rule problems.— Applicability of state control.— Board control versus single headed control.— Weaknesses of board control— Board administration a part time task.— Lack of Unity in board administration.— Conflict of authority in board administration.— Politics in board administration. Elective boards.— Bi-partisan boards.— The development of single headed control CHAPTER IV - SPECIAL PROBLEMS OF POLICE CONTROL The principle of responsible leadership.— Appointments of police heads.— Removals of police heads.— The jurisdiction of the police department.— Growth of suburbs.— Disadvantages of conflicting police systems.— Advantages of metropolitan areas.— Lack of standards in police methods as between states.— Commission government and the police force. — Personnel of commissions.— Commission government wrong in principle. —Commission government and transient management.— Commission government and irresponsible administration.— The effect of commission government on the police force. —City manager plan CHAPTER V - THE ORGANIZATION OF THE DEPARTMENT General organization.— Relation between supervision and work. — Examples.— Adjustment of the machinery to its task.—Examples.— Adaptation of the machinery to its work. —Faulty mechanism due to inelastic legal restrictions.— Illustrations.—European departments far more elastic.— Faulty mechanism due to unnecessary functions.— Faulty mechanism due to inadequate leadership. CHAPTER VI - THE COMMISSIONER OR DIRECTOR The task of police administration.— Police administrators promoted from the ranks.— Chicago.— Civilian police administrators.—Their handicaps.— Examples.— Police administration and politics.— Limited tenure of office.— Europe and America in this respect.— Residence requirements for commissioners.—European and American examples. — The dilemma and the approach to its solution CHAPTER VII - THE CHIEF OF POLICE Inaccurate analogies.— The chief and his relations to the director.—The impermanent tenure of the chief.— Illustrations.—Impermanent tenure due to politics.— Examples.—The chief and civil service.— Difficulties of civil service.—Personnel in the position of chief.— Politics and the chief CHAPTER VIII - THE RANK AND FILE The place of the uniformed force in the police department.— Its relation to other branches of the service.— Civil service and the police.— Demoralized conditions without civil service. —Civil service in operation.— Appointments.— Promotions.—Discipline.— The limitations of civil service.— A rational civil service needed.— The police school.— Educational activities of the New York department.— The patrol service. — Foot patrol becoming obsolete.— Automobiles in patrol work.— Over-emphasis on the mechanical side of police organization. —The lack of fluidity in mobilization.— Police unions.— Responsibility of the community to the police.—The police and industrial disturbance CHAPTER IX - THE DETECTIVE FORCE The detective force.— The chief of the detective bureau.— How he is selected.— The personnel of the detective bureau.—Methods of selection.— Civil service versus administrative assignment.—The training of detectives.— The organization of the detective bureau.— Centralization versus decentralization.—Too frequent changes in organization plans.— llustrations.—Lack of co-ordination in detective work.— Lack of business methods in detective work.— Lack of supervision in detective work.— Detective record systems.— Criminal identification.— Finger-prints versus Bertillon system.—Need of national bureau for identification of persons and property. CHAPTER X - THE PREVENTION OF CRIME Place of crime prevention in work of department.— Attack on the breeding places of crime. — Special conditions making for crime.— Educating the public.— The police and ex-convicts. —Juvenile delinquency.— Poverty.— Other crime prevention methods.— The development of the crime prevention bureau. CHAPTER XI - CONCLUSION Contrast between American and European police departments. — Europe far in advance. — American progress seen by comparison of present with past.— Irregular character of improvement.—Our achievement sordid and unworthy.— Importance of the police problem. Index
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