226 The New York Police Force 



All this work was done in strictest accord with 

 what we have grown to speak of as the principles of 

 civil service reform. In making dismissals we paid 

 heed merely to the man's efficiency and past record, 

 refusing to consider outside pressure ; under the old 

 regime no policeman with sufficient influence be- 

 hind him was ever dismissed, no matter what his 

 offence. In making promotions we took into ac- 

 count not only the man's general record, his faith- 

 fulness, industry and vigilance, but also his personal 

 prowess as shown in any special feat of daring, 

 whether in the arresting of criminals or in the sav- 

 ing of life for the police service is military in 

 character, and we wished to encourage the military 

 virtues. In making appointments we found that it 

 was practicable to employ a system of rigid com- 

 petitive examinations, which, as finally perfected, 

 combined a very severe physical examination with 

 a mental examination such as could be passed by 

 any man who had attended one of our public 

 schools. Of course there was also a rigid investiga- 

 tion of character. Theorists have often sneered at 

 civil service reform as "impracticable;" and I am 

 very far from asserting that written competitive 

 examinations are always applicable, or that they 

 may not sometimes be merely stop-gaps, used only 

 because they are better than the methods of appoint- 

 ing through political indorsement; but most cer- 

 tainly the system worked admirably in the Police 

 Department. We got the best lot of recruits for 

 patrolmen that had ever been obtained in the history 



