2. That members of the police force who do the work can never know their job as well as persons on the outside, for example, newspapermen and politicians, and that policemen have little or no natural respect for themselves or pride in the success of their work.

3. That the public service is only worthy of mediocre men, and no attempt need to be made to get superior men.

4. That power and authority necessary to do a given job well cannot be entrusted to a public servant.

P

CHAPTER VII

UNIFORM PATROL SERVICE

OLICE operations will be discussed under four headings, representing four functions of a police department's work, viz., uniform

patrol service, detective bureau operations, special activities, including crime prevention work, and the secretarial division.

Patrol by members of the Cleveland uniform force is a matter largely influenced by tradition. Little change in the method of distributing the patrol force or in supervising its operations has occurred within many years. Some improvements have recently been made in the reporting of work performed by the patrol force, although slight use is made of this information; for the most part it becomes merely a matter of record and is not employed for purposes of administrative control. While there have been substantially no changes in police patrol practices, or in the geographic distribution of the force by precincts, there have occurred many marked changes in conditions prevailing in Cleveland.

It is not unusual for a migration of population to occur which completely alters the police problem of a district. The influx of negroes, which has occurred in the Eighth Precinct, presents a new police problem, and so does the mixture of races in the Third, Fifth, and Sixth Precincts, lying southeast of the business center of the city. The character of these areas has so changed in a short time as to alter completely the demands made upon the police department. Again, there have been instances of rapid change from good residential districts, with a permanent population, to boarding-house and furnished-room districts, accommodating a transient population. This has been true in the Fourth Precinct, which has become in recent years a much livelier district as far as calls upon the police service are concerned. Then, on the other hand, there are changes in certain limited districts which tend to reduce the need of police attention. Some areas change from populous residential districts to manufacturing or warehouse centers. The police problem is greatly altered in a given precinct, as in the case of a portion of the Fifth, for example, when several rows of tenement houses are torn down and a factory erected in their stead.

Not only has the character of districts changed in the past twenty years, but changes in methods of transportation have altered the problem of police work. Years ago there was little traveling at night, and identification of those who did travel was comparatively easy, whereas now the number of people moving about after dark has increased a thousandfold. The use of the automobile alone has revolutionized the police problem. The movement of automobiles must be regulated to promote safety; they must be guarded from theft; and increasing vigilance is necessary because criminals make use of them in the commission of crimes.

Notwithstanding all of these changes in the objectives of policing, the means and methods of policing in Cleveland remain practically unaltered. There has been no modification of police arrangements to correspond with the kaleidoscopic changes brought about by shifting populations and new inventions. One gets the impression in Cleveland that police organization is merely a conventional arrangement, sanctioned by usage and traditions, but with little relation to needs or neighborhoods. It looks as if it had been wrenched from widely different surroundings and poorly fitted to its new environment. The admirable adaptation of means to end, of machinery to purposes, which one finds in many European departments, is conspicuously lacking. In brief, methods and organization are not fitted to new social and criminal conditions.

It is absurd to saddle on a single official the deficiencies due to so glaring a disparity between need and system. But the new system must be worked out and administered by a new head, capable of understanding the inadequacies of the antiquated existing system and sufficiently resourceful and commanding to afford Cleveland a police department adapted to its modern conditions.

A leadership of imagination and creative intelligence is urgently needed. Under such leadership one of the first steps in reorganization would undoubtedly be a restudying and recasting of the present patrol beat boundary lines. Many patrol beats have had the same boundaries for years. Indeed, most precinct stations do not have a beat map, and even the officers are often not familiar with the exact location of the patrol posts. When, after a thorough study of present conditions and present needs, the beats are revamped, they should be left open for future changes. A beat should not be reckoned as a permanently fixed area, but should be subject to readjustment at any time in the discretion of the captain of the precinct after approval by the chief of police. Patrol beats should be laid out in the light of the ordinary demands of

each particular beat for police protection, the number of patrolmen available for duty, and the methods of patrol that may be in use or may be put into use.

In laying out patrol beats all information in regard to street blocks should be available. Such information is not now to be had in the police department. It is recommended that a card record description of every block within each precinct be prepared under the direction of the captain of the precinct, giving the following information:

Length of block

Kind of paving

Kind of traffic

General description of buildings

Kind of street lighting

Population statistics as to total number, nationality, number of families, permanent population, transient population List of such important burglary risks as banks, jewelry-stores, warehouses, etc.

List of places to be inspected by the police, as pool-rooms, clubs, dance halls, cigar-stores with back rooms, pawn shops, etc.

There should then be a space for entering the crime record on the block description card, showing separately the number of complaints. of misdemeanors and felonies and the number of arrests classified by misdemeanors and felonies. These card records of blocks should be kept up to date by the precinct commanders, and from them information should be obtained for the determination of patrol beat boundaries.

NUMBER OF POLICEMEN NEEDED

Another matter which should be considered under a progressive leadership of the police is the number of policemen necessary for Cleveland. We cannot undertake to say in any confidence whether or not the police department needs more policemen. Certainly the crime rate in Cleveland affords plenty of opportunity for work by any additional men who might be appointed to the police force. Certainly, too, the addition of more men to the patrol force or to other branches of the service would show some returns in lessening the number of crime complaints and increasing the number of crimes solved. In this connection Detroit offers an illuminating experience. Complaints of robbery were steadily reduced for a period of four months, in which the police force. was increased each month. An official bulletin of the Detroit Depart

ment discloses that in September, 1920, with a shortage of 198 men, there were 98 robberies committed, as against an average of 55 for September of the four preceding years. In October, with a shortage of 170 men, there were 74 robberies against an average of 61 for the previous four months of October. In November, with the shortage entirely made up, there were 55 robberies, against an average of 92 for the same month of the four preceding years, and in December, with the number of patrolmen brought up to 132 in excess of the regular quota by December 31, there were 48 robberies, against an average of 93 for the same month of the previous four years.

A comparison of personnel quotas and police costs in Cleveland and Detroit shows clearly the superior resources possessed by the latter city. Approximately $4,500,000 was appropriated for Detroit's police service during the fiscal year 1920-21, while the total estimated cost for police service in Cleveland for 1921 amounted to approximately $2,500,000. The total authorized police force in Detroit for the year 1921-22 numbered 1,926, while the total authorized force in Cleveland for 1921 numbered 1,381.

On the other hand, the fact has to be borne in mind that Detroit is larger than Cleveland by nearly 200,000. Nevertheless it is found that Cleveland has only 174 men per 100,000 population, while Detroit has 194.

Similarly, a comparison between Cleveland's police resources and those of St. Louis shows to the disadvantage of Cleveland. St. Louis is slightly smaller than Cleveland, yet the estimated expenditure for the police department in 1921 exceeded Cleveland's police cost by $500,000. The total strength of the St. Louis force exceeded Cleveland's total force by more than 500 men. St. Louis has 250 men per 100,000 population.

The question of increasing the number of men is one of public policy, involving chiefly the amount of money that can be spared for police protection. That more policemen will mean an improvement in crime conditions is not to be debated. Whether the resulting reduction in crime is worth the additional money required of a tax- and debt-burdened city is a question with which we have no proper concern. The questions that confront us are these: Is the city of Cleveland getting all the return it should from the money now spent on patrol service? If not, where does inefficiency lie or where does failure to make the best use of resources appear? We believe greater returns could be had from the number of policemen employed at present-(1) by greatly extending the use of motor vehicles, and, in some cases, bicycles, in doing patrol work; (2)