PARK POLICING 749 



towns and small cities to require the local police officer or officers to enforce 

 state laws and city ordinances in park areas as in other territory under 

 their jurisdiction. In large park systems this method is almost universally 

 condemned by park executives. Some of the reasons for this are: 



1. The assignment of officers is inadequate. 



2. It is not an uncommon practice to assign old, worn-out or sick 

 officers, or else new and untrained officers to this duty, with the inevitable 

 result that park policing is inadequately and inefficiently done. 



3. The training and experience of the ordinary policeman does not, 

 as a general rule, fit him for the proper performance of park policing, a duty 

 which is almost as much instructional in nature as is enforcing law. 



4. Park executives, as a rule, do not feel that they have the executive 

 controlling authority over city police as they would have if the police force 

 were organized as an integral part of the park administrative organization. 

 In some few cases this has been overcome by the city council or the police 

 chief placing the patrolmen assigned to park duty directly under the control 

 of the park executive so long as they are assigned to this duty. 



5. Too often the constant shifting of the personnel of patrolmen 

 assigned to park duty makes for inefficiency and renders impossible the 

 gradual building up of a trained force. 



On the whole this method of policing parks in large park systems is 

 undesirable and should not be encouraged. 



The Park Police Force. 



The third method is that of having a regularly organized police force 

 as a part of the administrative organization of the Park Department under 

 the direct control of the park executive. With but very few exceptions 

 park executives throughout the whole of the United States believe that this 

 is the only way by which policing of parks can properly be done. Some of 

 the reasons for their belief are: 



1. There can be better administrative control over men selected and 

 trained by the executive head of the department. 



2. It is likely that a more adequate force in numbers can be secured, 

 and certainly a more careful selection for this duty can be made. 



3. Men selected and controlled by the department head can be trained 

 specifically for the duty of policing parks, and the men themselves will not 

 be confused by the control of two different authorities. 



4. There is not likely to be such constant shifting of the personnel as 

 is nearly always the case when regular city patrolmen are used. 



Some of the difficulties encountered in any park department selecting, 

 training and controlling its own police or guard force may be enumerated 

 as follows: 



