16 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Appropriations for the 
Police Department 
For 1913. 
Editor North Shore Breeze, 
Dear Sir:—For the next year the 
Town of Manchester should not ap- 
propriate more than $3000.00 for the 
Police Department. This department 
has for years been a constant and 
needless source of waste to the peo- 
ple. A great saving can be made and 
ought to be made annually in this de- 
partment. We are making no com- 
plaint about the efficiency of the pres- 
ent Police Force. We shall go so far 
to say that our Police Department is 
over-efficient. 
Manchester is the most law-abiding 
town in the Commonwealth. It is 
purely residential. It is not a mill- 
town like Lawrence, attracting men 
and women who have little or on re- 
gard for the law. It has not the float- 
ing population of a manufacturing 
city like Lynn. It never has trouble 
within its limits, occasioned by such 
unlawful elements as come to a sea- 
faring town like Gloucester. The 
people of Manchester represent the 
highest type of citizenship. The ear- 
liest settlers of this town were law- 
abiding and conscienscious men. Man- 
chester has always been a town of 
peace. Today its people are honest 
and peaceable. 
Our Town Report for the period 
ending Feb. 1, 1912, shows that dur- 
ing the year only 32 arrests were 
made. Think of it! Only 32 arrests 
for a whole year! Of this number 14 
were released from the Station with- 
out being brought to Court; 2 were 
defaulted; 1 was delivered to the offi- 
cers of another city. In other words, 
during that year only 15 arrests of 
sufficient importance to cause them to 
be brought to Court were made in this 
town. ‘The majority of these arrests 
were made for simple drunkenness. 
The Town had a Chief of Police, a 
Sergeant, 5 regular patrolmen and 5 
special officers for those 15 arrests. 
The Police Department spent $7675, 
principally in salaries that year. To 
arrest each poor drunk and take him 
to Court it cost the people of this 
Town over $500. Our Police Depart- 
ment is spending too much. money. 
Let us see what the other towns in this 
Commonwealth are spending a year 
in their Police Departments. 
The Police Department of the Town 
of Manchester has requested an ap- 
propriation of $7500 for the ensuing 
year. This request is unwarrantable 
in view of the figures filed by practi- 
cally every town in the Common- 
wealth during the past year. 
Town Population 
South Hadley 4,894 
Walpole 4,892 
Monson 4,758 
Barnstable 4,676 
Dartmouth 4,378 
Dudley 4,267 
Rockport 4,211 
Wareham 4,102 
Foxborough 3,863 
Templeton 3,756 
Tewksbury 3,750 
Williamstown 3,708 
Dalton 3,508 
Agawam 3,501 
Medfield 3,466 
Dracut 3,461 
East Bridgewater 3,363 
Oxford 3,361 
North Brookfield 3,075 
(a license town) 
Westport 2,928 
Somerset 2,798 
Ayer 2,797 
Holliston 2,711 
Norton 2,544 
Auburn 2,420 
Seekonk 2,397 
Wilbraham ie Ge 
Groveland 2,253 
Dighton 2,235 
West Bridgewater 2,231 
Deerfield 2,209 
Holden 2,147 
Shirley 2,139 
Williamsburg 2,132 
Harwich 2,115 
Ashburnham 2,107 
Upton 2,071 
Belcherstown 2,054 
Charlton 2,032 
Rehoboth 2,001 
~ Manchester with “a population of 
2,673 had 6 regular officers and spent 
$7675.00. 
Town Population 
Northbridge 8,087 
Manchester 2,673 
Ware 8,774 
Palmer 8,610 
Middleboro 8,210 
Montague 6,866 
Stoughton 6,316 
Great Barrington 5,926 
Grafton 5,705 
Mansfield 5,183 
Easton 5,139 
Fairhaven 5,122 
Amherst 5,112 
The above list presents a fair aver- 
age of the towns of Massachusetts, 
showing the strength of their police 
Police force Expenditures 
1 regular officer $1141.13 
2 regular officers 2590.06 
1 regular officer 900.00 
no regular officer, I con- 
stable 50.00 
1 constable paid per day 3.00 
no regular officer 617.15 
2 regulars at $500 1550.00 
I. officer at 150, 1 keeper of 
lock-up at $150 350.00 
I constable, 1 caer taker 873.00 
no regular officer 151.07 
no regular officer 212.95 
no regular officer 394.26 
3 night officers, no day of- 
ficers 3066.40 
I regular officer 948.01 
1 night officer 1200.00 
2 constables who act also 
as tax collectors zga 
no regular officer 452.17 
no regular officer 338.48 
no regular officer 300.00 
no regular officer 361.90 
2 regulars 1882.35 
2 regulars 1996.65 
I night watchman 365.00 
no regular officer 333.00 
no regular officer 250.00 
no regular officer 374.68 - 
no regular officer 100.00 
no regular officer 143.73 
no regular officer 565.23 
no regular officer 235.76 
no regular officer 33.00 
no regular officer 29.00 
1 regular officer 918.60 
no regular officer 164.35 
no regular officer 562.44 
no regular officer 20.50 
a few constables who re- 
ceive a year about 6.00 
no regular officer 514.60 
no regular officer 500.00 
no regular officer 25.00 
ee 
Compare the figures of some towns — 
from two to four times as large as — 
Manchester. 
Police force Expenditures 
no regular officer $469.80 
6 regular officers 7675.00 
3 regulars 3893.47 
4 night officers at 399. 
2 regulars 2762.16 
3 regulars 2443.02 
2 regulars 1077.12 
3 regulars 2689.15 
no regulars 97-75 
2 regulars 1464.13 
no regulars 283.18 
no regulars 920.29 
2 regulars 1783.73 
force and the cost of maintaining their 
police deparments. To maintain its 
police department it costs the people 
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