The New York Police Force 215 



ing of duty these were the qualities most called 

 for. We soon found that, in spite of the widespread 

 corruption which had obtained in the New York 

 Police Department, the bulk of the men were heartily 

 desirous of being honest. There were some who 

 were incurably dishonest, just as there were some 

 who had remained decent in spite of terrific tempta- 

 tion and pressure; but the great mass came in be- 

 tween. Although not possessing the stamina to war 

 against corruption when the odds seemed wellnigh 

 hopeless, they were nevertheless heartily glad to be 

 decent and to welcome the change to a system under 

 which they were rewarded for doing well, and pun- 

 ished for doing ill. 



Our methods for restoring order and discipline 

 were simple, and indeed so were our methods for se- 

 curing efficiency. We made frequent personal in- 

 spections, especially at night, turning up anywhere, 

 at any time. We thus speedily got an idea of whom 

 among our upper subordinates we could trust and 

 whom we could not. We then proceeded to punish 

 those guilty of shortcomings, and to reward those 

 who did well, refusing to pay any heed whatever 

 in either case to anything except the man's own 

 character and record. A very few of these promo- 

 tions and dismissals sufficed to show our subordi- 

 nates that at last they were dealing with superiors 

 who meant what they said, and that the days of po- 

 litical "pull" were over while we had the power. 

 The effect was immediate. The decent men took 

 heart, and those who were not decent feared longer 



