466 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



for the army are now distributed between the war department, with its 

 several bureaus, the general staff and the committees on military affairs 

 of congress. In this way the chief officer of the police force would be 

 called upon for no more than advisory assistance, being left free for the 

 work of supervision and command. As a general in the field, he should 

 have under him an adequate staff, responsible only to him and reporting 

 only to him, and being clothed with powers as his representative. In 

 time of riot or disorder the powers of the chief should be greatly in- 

 creased; in effect his personal authority, while not extending of course 

 to that of " life and death," should really for the time supersede the 

 civil. To a military man there is something ludicrous in the idea of 

 gentle dealings with a mob. It may be political heresy to say so, but no 

 chief of police should discriminate between a band of murderous 

 ruffians — if you choose avowed brigands — and those — hardly less ruf- 

 fianly — who use and utilize the striking of honest workingmen for 

 better conditions for purposes of pillage and violence. If a mob knew 

 that the orders were — " Shoot to kill !" unlawful assemblages would 

 quickly become unknown. 



So far as discipline goes the police have seldom been other than dis- 

 ciplined. But to impose military discipline upon a policeman is not only 

 impossible except when he becomes part of a battalion or when mobilized 

 to resist and suppress disorder, but is usually quite undesirable. The 

 duties of a patrolman on post are not in the least like those of a 

 private soldier. He is an officer, must be treated as an officer, and his 

 duty must be compared to that of an army officer. He is almost con- 

 stantly beyond the oversight and control of a superior; he is bound to 

 act by himself and obliged to think for himself. He is not an enlisted 

 man, whose duty is largely that of blind and prompt obedience, but a 

 citizen temporarily bearing arms for a specific and limited purpose. 



The method of discovering and applying correct principles applicable 

 to all bodies of men acting under authority to the police force; to do 

 away with improper conditions ; to reconcile discrepancies, and to estab- 

 lish the administration of the department upon a stable foundation, 

 ought to be the work of a suitably constituted commission. This com- 

 mission should be appointed by the governor, or preferably the mayor, 

 under authority of an act of the legislature. This commission ought to 

 be composed in part of graduates of West Point, in part of captains of 

 police in sympathy with the work, the police commissioner, and one or 

 two civilians, of whom one at least should be a lawyer thoroughly versed 

 in municipal affairs. There is an old adage that, " A commission is a 

 noun of multitude which may signify many, but seldom signifying 

 much;" but we have equally good authority that, " In a multitude of 

 counselors is safety." 



If not already familiar with the history of the department, it would 



