UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES POLICE ADMINISTRATION By RAYMOND B. FOSDICK PART III OF THE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION SURVEY OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN CLEVELAND Price $1.00 POLICE ADMINISTRATION THE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION H02 Swetland Building, Cleveland, Ohio COMMITTEE J. D. Williamson, Chairman Thomas G. Fitzsimons Malcolm L. McBride W. H. Prescott Belle Sherwin Leonard P. Ayres, Secretary James R. Garfield, Counsel Raymond Moley, Director THE SURVEY OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE Roscoe Pound 1 Felix Frankfurter i^^''^^^^^^ Amos Burt Thompson, Chairman of the Advbory Committee POLICE ADMINISTRATION BY RAYMOND B. FOSDICK AUTHOR OF '■ AMERICAN POLICE SYSTEMS ' PART III OF THE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION SURVEY OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN CLEVELAND Copyright, 1921, by The Cleveland Foundation FOREWORD THIS is the third of eight sections of the report of the Cleve- land Foundation Survey of Criminal Justice in Cleveland. The survey was directed and the reports edited by Roscoe Pound and FeUx Frankfurter. Sections which have been pub- lished are: The Criminal Courts, by Reginald Heber Smith and Herbert B. Ehrmann Prosecution, by Alfred Bettman Other sections to be published are : Penal Treatment and Correctional Institutions, by Burdette G. Lewis Medical Science and Criminal Justice, by Dr. Herman M. Adler. Newspapers and Criminal Justice, by M. K. Wisehart Legal Education in Cleveland, by Albert M. Kales Criminal Justice in the American City, a Summary, by Roscoe Pound The sections are being published first in separate form, each bound in paper. About November 10 the report will be available in a single volume, cloth bound. Orders for separate sections or the bound volume may be left with book-stores or with the Cleve- land Foundation, 1202 Swetland Building. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Foreword v List of Tables viii CHAPTER I. The Problem 1 II. Present Conditions 4 III. The Organization of the Force 8 Scope of the Police Survey 9 The Problem of Administration 10 The Machinery of Police Administration in Cleveland 10 Recommendations 14 IV. Provision of Personnel — Its Selection and Training 22 Previous Occupation 22 Age of Appointees 24 Turnover in the Patrol Force 26 Civil Service as a Source of Recruits 31 Police Training School 32 V. Promotion 34 The System of Promotion 34 Limitations and Defects of the System 36 Recommendations 40 VI. Discipline 43 Record of Formal Disciplinary Actions 45 Appeals 47 Recommendations 51 VII. Uniform Patrol Service 53 Number of Policemen Needed 55 Methods of Patrol 57 Patrol Booths 59 Precinct Stations 60 Recommendations 61 VIII. The Detective Bureau 62 Poor Quality of Detectives 64 Poor Work of Detective Bureau 67 Inadequate Supervision of Detective Work 68 Recommendations 69 IX. Special Service Division 73 Other Crime Prevention Units Needed 75 X. The Secretarial Division 79 LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Number of Appointments and Resignations of Men Appointed in Years 1914, 1916, 1918, 1919, 1920 27 2. Combined Record of Appointments, Resignations, and Dismissals 27 3. Median Scores and Range of Scores of Police Divisions 65 4. Distribution of Intelligence Ratings 66 5. Summary of Distribution of Intelligence Ratings 66 POLICE ADMINISTRATION CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM A CURSORY examination of the problem of crime in Cleveland produces some startling facts. For the year 1920 Cleveland, with ' approximately 800,000 population, had six times as many murders as London, with 8,000,000 population. For every robbery or assault with intent to rob committed during this same period in London there were 17 such crimes committed in Cleveland. Cleveland had as many murders during the first three months of the present year as London had during all of 1920. Liverpool is about one and one-half times larger than Cleve- land, and yet in 1919 Cleveland reported 31 robberies for each one re- ported in Liverpool, and three times the number of murders and man- slaughters. Practically the same ratio holds between Cleveland and Glasgow. There are more robberies and assaults to rob in Cleveland every year than in all England, Scotland, and Wales put together. In 1919 there were 2,327 automobiles stolen in Cleveland; in London there were 290; in Liverpool, 10. Comparisons of this kind between Cleveland, on the one hand, and European cities, on the other, could be almost indefinitely extended. There is no gainsaying the fact that crime in Cleveland far exceeds, in point of volume, the crime of European cities of equal or larger size. And yet, compared with other American cities, Cleveland's record does not show to any special disadvantage. For the first quarter of 1921 there were four more murders committed in Detroit than in Cleveland, and nearly twice as many automobiles stolen in Detroit. During the first three months of 1921 St. Louis had 481 robberies, while Cleveland had 272; for the same period complaints of burglary and housebreaking in St. Louis numbered 1,106, as compared to 565 such complaints in Cleve- land. For this same period the number of murders in Buffalo, a much smaller city, equaled those in Cleveland, and burglaries, housebreakings, and larcenies were almost as numerous. In 1919 Chicago, more than three times the size of Cleveland, had 293 murders and manslaughters, 2 [11 compared with Cleveland's 55, so that the ratio was easily two to one in Cleveland's favor; the 1920 statistics of the two cities show an even better proportion for Cleveland. On the other side of the scale, for the first three months of the present year Cleveland had more than twice the number of robberies and assaults to rob that Detroit had, and a similar large proportion of burglaries and housebreakings. During this period there were 296 automobiles stolen in St. Louis, as against 446 in Cleveland. Cleveland is approximately three times larger than Toledo, and yet in 1920 Cleveland had 87 mur- ders, while Toledo had only 11. Another basis of comparison is between the crime statistics of Cleve- land in 1921 and Cleveland in former years. For the first six months of 1921, the period in which this survey was carried on, the number of murders committed in Cleveland was 15. For the same period in 1920 the number of murders was 30. Similarly, during this same period, there was a decrease of burglaries and larcenies from 573 in 1920 to 541 in 1921. On the other hand, robberies and assaults to rob increased, as between the two periods, from 454 to 534, and the number of automobiles stolen increased from 1,156 to 1,238. The following figures show the average number of complaints for the first quarter of each of the four years from 1917 to 1920 inclusive, classified according to four outstanding crimes: Robbery and assault to rob 283 Burglar\' and larceny 418 Murder 17 Automobiles driven away 361 The following figures give the number of complaints of the same crimes for the first quarter of 1921: Robbery and assault to rob 272 Burglarj' and larceny 265 Murder 6 Automobiles driven away 446 Obviously, there has been some improvement within the last four years. All in all, crime conditions are no more vicious in Cleveland than they are in other American cities. In point of volume of crime in relation to size of population Cleveland is neither much better nor much worse than the other municipalities of the United States. It is when we compare Cleveland with cities like London, Glasgow, Liverpool, or almost any other European municipality that ominous contrasts are obtained. In this respect, therefore, Cleveland's problem is the problem of America, [21 for the same causes that are maintaining the high crime rate of Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Detroit, and San Francisco are operating here. What are these causes? Here we can only hint at some of the deeper social and economic causes. The lack of homogeneity in our population and its increasing instability, the absence of settled habits and traditions of order, the breakdown of the administration of criminal law in the United States, and the many avenues by which offenders can escape punishment, our easy habit of passing laws which do not represent com- munity standards or desires, our lack of cohesive industrial organization, our distrust of experts in the management of governmental enterprises — all these are undoubtedly contributing factors. But there is another factor, still more potent: police machinery in the United States has not kept pace with modern demands. It has de- veloped no effective technique to master the burden which modern social and industrial conditions impose. Clinging to old traditions, bound by old practices which business and industry long ago discarded, employing a personnel poorly adapted to its purposes, it grinds away on its per- functory task without self-criticism, without imagination, and with little initiative. From this general indictment the Cleveland police department cannot be excepted. CHAPTER II PRESENT CONDITIONS THE present police department of Cleveland dates from 1866. In that year the force, consisting of a marshal and 44 watchmen, was reorganized on a semi-military basis, with a superintendent, cap- tains, sergeants, detectives, and patrolmen. In the next forty years there followed many modifications of the scheme for administering the force; but few changes, other than increases in numbers, occurred in the internal organization. In 1907 the force totaled 614: a chief, one in- spector, four captains, 27 lieutenants, 28 sergeants, 550 patrolmen, a secretary, surgeon, and detective sergeant. Of the 550 patrolmen, 20 were designated as detectives. At the beginning of 1921 the authorized force of regular police totaled 1,381,' including — 1 chief 1 secretary 1 inspector 4 deputy inspectors 1 superintendent of criminal investigation 1 surgeon 1 veterinary surgeon 1 superintendent of civil investigation 1 superintendent of tailor shop 17 captains 53 lieutenants 99 sergeants 75 detectives 1,125 patrolmen Since 1866 Cleveland has gi'own from a small town to the fifth city in the United States. It has grown not only in size, but in the heterogeneity of its population and in the complexity of its social and business life. From a town in which many people knew each other intimately and thus • Ordinance No. 52236 (Ordinances of 1920). The actual number of men em- ployed has been below the authorized number. 14] furnished a substantial degree of self-protection and aid to the police, Cleveland has become, like all other communities of its size in modern times, a city of strangers. In contrast with this complex growth of the city the police depart- ment of 1921 is little more than a physical enlargement of the depart- ment of 1866. Other branches of the municipal government have made marked progress along lines of scientific development. The school sys- tem, public utilities, fire fighting, business offices — all these have taken on a new character compared with their prototypes of a generation ago. The police department has shown no such vitality — no such capacity to make itself over on a new and improved pattern, no willingness to reshape its methods to modern demands. Instead, it has hewn to the line of tradition, ventured almost nothing in experiment, and copied very little from the experience of other private and public organizations. Today the patrol force is distributed and managed exactly as it was twenty or thirty years ago. There is nothing new in the detective service save faces and a few meager records. Traffic regulation has been developed, but this modern necessity has been met only by draining the depart- ment's resources for coping with crime. No new practices have been employed for ferreting out and removing conditions that produce crime. Practically the same methods are employed for combating crime that were used when Cleveland was just a big neighborhood in which the police knew everybody. Let us look a little further. The department has never had and does not have today the trained and intelligent leadership which European police forces have long enjoyed. Cleveland's directors of public safety and her chiefs of police come and go, apparently with scant appreciation by the public of the fact that transient administration is fatal to success in any complex technical enterprise. Moreover, the line of authority between the director of public safety and the chief of police is so vaguely drawn that effective administration would be impossible even under the best of conditions. Lacking in leadership, the department lacks, too, in the quality of its working personnel. Machinists, motormen, truckmen, and other manual workers — these are the sources from which Cleveland takes the men upon whom she imposes tasks requiring a high degree of intelligence and technical skill, besides a keen appreciation of social values. Similarly, we find adherence to a rigid organization applying to the entire force, regardless of the great difference in tj^jes of work attempted by the various divisions of the service. We find the department acting as the eyes and ears of other city departments in reporting on the physical 15] conditions of the city, promoting the safety of citizens in public places, arresting criminals, and preventing the commission of crimes, but using the same kind of man for all these tasks and clearing them through the same inelastic organization. The department is trj-dng heroically today to "catch up" in the ap- prehension of criminals and the prevention of crime. Its energies, how- ever, are chiefly consumed in repairing damage that is not anticipated. Almost nothing is being done to find out the causes of crime, to learn the sources from which criminals are sprung, or to forestall their operations. The department takes no leading part in the study of criminals and their characteristic^; it does not even avail itself of facilities for study and experiment that have been developed by schools, climes, and other pri- vate and public organizations. This lack of intelligence and imagination in Cleveland's poUce work is shown in the ragged character of the internal arrangements of the depart- ment. No private business whose affairs were carried on in such hit-or- miss fashion could escape bankruptcy. The record books of the depart- ment are poorly kept, sometimes showing erasures, changes, and addi- tions. Nearly all reports made by patrohnen and detectives are wTitten in pencil. There are no current consolidated reports showing summaries of operations, ^^^th comparative data for other periods which might be used for purposes of administrative control. Instead, there is a great mass of detailed matter passing over and lodging upon the chief's desk. On the other hand, not enough detailed material appears on the desks of commanding officers of the detective bureau, vice bureau, and precincts. Policemen are doing the work of clerks, and some, who might better have been employed as clerks, are doing the work of policemen. Most of the department's supervnsory work is done on a memory basis, as in 1866, without even any regular order for making and receiving the verbal sum- maries of current business. Every one, from the chief down, appears to be engaged with the interesting things of the moment. Study and analy- sis of persisting or recurring problems and of results in the aggregate are hardly known. Inadequate equipment adds to this appearance of raggedness. No private business which has to show results could work with the depart- ment's equipment. The headquarters building is wholly inadequate. Workers in every division are cramped for space, with resulting confusion and chaos. If the record bureau facilities are contrasted with those of a private enterprise havmg an equal volume of business, the disadvantages under which the police are working will be readily seen. There are no typewriters in the precincts save those privately owned. Supervising [6] inspectors do not have automobiles in which to cover the city. Members of the automobile recovery squad are frequently without a car, and must go on foot to search for stolen automobiles. The signal system is wholly inadequate for the ordinary needs of communicating with men doing field duty. No motor equipment is available for regular patrol duty. A general picture of the police service in Cleveland gives the impres- sion of a group of men, singularly free from scandal and vicious cor- ruption, but working in a rut, without intelligence or constructive policy, on an unimaginative, perfunctory routine. As a matter of fact, this same indictment could be drawn against most of the police forces of America. The Cleveland department is no worse than many others; in some re- spects it is better. Official lethargy lies behind much that is distressing in this picture. There is another kind of lethargy, however, which can- not escape its share of the responsibility. It is the lethargy of pubhc opinion, the community's easy habit of assuming that governmental ma- chinery will somehow or other run itself, even in the face of meager equip- ment and inadequate funds. [7] CHAPTER III THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FORCE THE police service of Cleveland is organized as a division of the department of public safety. The department of which the police division forms a part is administered by a director appointed by the mayor and serving at his pleasure. The charter provides that " under the direction of the mayor the director of public safety shall be the execu- tive head of the divisions of police and fire." The division of poUce is headed by a chief of police, who is appointed by the mayor, subject to civil serv'ice rules and regulations. The right to suspend the chief is lodged exclusively with the mayor. In case of such suspension, the charter provides that the mayor "shall forthwith certify the fact, to- gether with the cause of such suspension, to the civil service commission, who within five days from the date of the receipt of such notice shall proceed to hear such charges and render judgment thereon, which judg- ment shall be final."^ The rank and file of the police service are appointed by the director of public safety. The chief of police has the exclusive right to suspend any officers or employees in the poUce division. In case of suspension the charter provides that a trial shall be held by the director, who is em- powered to render judgment, "which judgment, if sustained, may be suspension, reduction in rank, or dismissal, and such judgment in the matter shall be final, except as otherwise hereinafter provided." The charter further provides that a member of the division of police may appeal to the civil service commission from the decision of the director of pubhc safety within ten days after the date of suspension from duty, re- duction in rank, or dismissal. In such appealed cases the civil service commission has the pov/er to "affirm, disaffirm, or modify the judgment of the director of public safety, and its judgment in the matter shall be final." All members of the professional force enter the department as patrol- men, after examinations conducted by the civil service commission. Promotions to the higher ranks, with the exception of the rank of chief of » Cleveland City Charter, Sec. 107. police, are made as a result of competitive civil service examinations. In addition to these ranks of the professional police force there is a super- intendent of criminal investigation (criminal identification), a surgeon, superintendent of civil investigation, veterinary surgeon, and superin- tendent of the tailor shop. Civilians are employed as matrons, chauffeurs, tailors, caretakers, janitresses, mechanics, and telephone operators. The major part of the regular police personnel is distributed by types of work in four main divisions as follows: the unifonned patrol force, the division of traffic regulation, the detective division, and the vice squad. In addition to these main divisions are several small auxiliary units, such as the criminal identification bureau, information bureau, and record bureau, to which patrolmen and officers are assigned in the numbers re- quired. Ranks and grades are not affected by assignment and transfer from one bureau or division to another, although some increase in salary is granted to sergeants who are detailed to the vice squad and to patrol- men assigned to serve regularly in the detective division. For purposes of distributing the working force of the department geo- grapliically the city has been divided into 15 precincts, each having a precinct station house. The general administration of police affairs is carried on at police headquarters, which also includes the first precinct station, detective headquarters, vice squad, and all the special units. Scope of the Police Survey The subjects of study in this survey have been the relations between the civil service board, the public safety department, and the various police divisions and bureaus, the character of the supervision of police work in its many phases, the methods of procedure, the records and re- ports maintained for showing work accomplished, and the volume of crime dealt with. In the main, appraisals of efficiency relate to methods of procedure and departmental organization viewed as an impersonal instrument of government. The relation of officials to one another and to their work in general has been looked at in the light of the office rather than of the individual. While this view of police administration has necessarily represented conditions prevailing during the period covered by the inves- tigation, and is, therefore, an analysis of the practices and accomplish- ments of individuals who happened to be in office at that time, we have kept in mind throughout that it is methods rather than persons which form the permanent part of the organization, and it is the former, there- fore, with which the larger purposes of the survey are concerned. Thus it has been the office of the chief of police, with its powers, duties, prac- 19] tices, and accomplishments, rather than Chief Frank W. Smith, that has been the subject of investigation. The present personnel will, in due course, be separated entirely from police administration, and any ap- praisal of their efficiency as individuals will then be of no value. But the practices employed and policies laid down by the present personnel must necessarily form the basis for the development of the future. The Problem of Administration The task of the administration of police business in Cleveland con- sists in directing the daily activities of some 1,200 men. Keeping each of these men keyed up to his best is a problem in the management of human beings. Their work in turn consists in regulating human relations and thus promoting safety and good order in the community. To achieve these ends in a city of the size of Cleveland a large organ- ization with imposing equipment and record systems must be provided. It must be noted, however, that the ultimate end of this complex super- structure of organization is to be found in the acts of individual poUce- men, operating for the most part alone and initially unaided. The per- sonnel of the department rarely moves in large units; the organization acts through individual members in performing the major part of the daily routine. The real poUce work is not done at headquarters or in stations, but on the beat. Matters of organization, records, reports, and methods of procedure are merely convenient instruments to see that policemen are made avail- able for duty and to provide some basis for estimating the effectiveness of these field forces. But police work itself, in its final analysis, is 'wholly personal. The sum of the generally isolated observations, investigations, and acts of individual policemen constitutes the primary pohce work of the department. The heart of the business of police administration, there- fore, consists in training, stimulating, and directing men in the exercise of good judgment and initiative while on post or assignment in the field. The work of a police department is, therefore, not readily reduced to well-defined standards of accomplishment. It involves such intangible and modifiable factors as good judgment, sympathy, patience, courage, and intelligence. Added to these there must be pride of profession, en- thusiasm, and, above all, a spirit and willingness to take great pains in the prosecution of the work. The Machinery of Police Administration in Cleveland Let us see how well the administrative machinery of the Cleveland pohce department fulfils its task of administering these personal relations. [10] Charter provisions covering the question of responsibihty for the admin- istration of pohce business are singularly confusing in terminology. The language is clear enough, however, to show that a deliberate attempt has been made to distribute specific powers between the director of public safety and the chief of police. Authority is apparently given to the chief by one provision of the charter, only to be taken away by another. Re- garding general powers and duties in the department of public safety the charter reads : " Under the direction of the mayor the director of public safety shall be the executive head of the divisions of police and fire. He shall also be the chief administrative authority in all matters affecting the inspection and regidation of the erection, maintenance, repair, and occupancy of build- ings J^^ Thus, with regard to the division of buildings, which is coordinate with the divisions of fire and police in the department of public safety, the charter specifies that the director shall be the administrative author- ity, while his responsibility with regard to the police and fire divisions would seem to be of a different kind. The distinction here made ap- parently implies that in the police and fire divisions, as distinguished from the division of buildings, the chiefs of the respective divisions are the administrative heads, with the director as a sort of over-lord. The charter does not specifically state that the chief of police is to be con- sidered the administrative authority of the division of police, but the prescriptions relating to his appointment and removal by the mayor and not by the director, and the power-s and duties ascribed to him, would seem to indicate that such was the intention. Another section of the charter reads: ^'The chief of the division of police shall have exclusive control of the stationing and transfer of all patrol- men, and other officers and employees constituting the police force, under such rules and regulations as the director of public safety may prescribe. The director of public safety shall have the exclusive management and control of such other officers and employees as shall be employed in the administration of the affairs of the division.""^ Here again we are confronted by an ap- parent conflict. Where does the authority of the chief leave off and that of the director of public safety begin? An inquiry along historical lines reveals that the probable intention of the framers of the charter was to charge the chief with responsibility for carrying on police enterprise proper, while the director was to have full responsibility in purely busi- ness matters, such as the purchase of supplies and equipment, repair and upkeep of property. If this be true, it must be pointed out that the intention was not well fortified by later provisions in the charter, wherein 1 City Charter, Sec. 102. 2 city Charter, Sec. 103. [11] the chief — or administrative head of the "police force" — is shorn of all final authority in important matters governing the selection, promotion, and discipline of the police force. Again, " The chiefs of the divisions of police and fire shall have the ex- clusive right to suspend any of the officers or employees in their respective divisiomvho may he under their management and control. * * * " This is no more than the ordinary authority attaching to the office of an ad- ministrative head of a department. In the next sentence, however, this language occurs : " // any officer or employee he suspended, as herein provided, the chief of the division concerned shall forthwith in writing certify the fact, together with the cause for the suspension, to the director ofpuhlic safety who, ivithin five days from the receipt thereof, shall proceed to inquire into the cause of such suspensioti and render judgment thereon, which judgment, if the charge be sustained, may he suspension, reduction in rank, or disjnissal, and such judgment in the matter shall he final, except as hereinafter pro- vided.'" Thus it appears that the chief is given wide powers, — wider than in most cities where there is a non-professional administrative head, such as the director of public safety, between the mayor and the chief, — that he is charged with the initiation of authority in administration, that is, has "exclusive" control under ordinary circumstances, while the director's connection with the routine affairs of the police division is restricted to business matters or, as the charter vaguely calls it, "administration of the affairs of the division." Yet, when the real test of "exclusive" con- trol appears, it is found that the director and not the chief has all the power. The director makes all of the reall}' important decisions, as, for example, in the matter of preparing the budget for police service, making rules and regulations, conducting disciplinary trials, and making the selections for appointment and promotions from the civil service lists. The director, however, is not required, nor does he have an opportunity, to estabUsh immediate and constant contact with the actual administra- tive processes of police work. There is another odd arrangement in connection with the distribution of powers and the establishment of a line of responsibility between the two heads of the police service. The director, while depending on the chief to exercise "exclusive" control up to the point where the director himself makes the really important decisions, does not have direct con- trol over the chief, but merely over the facilities with which the chief has to work. The chief is appointed by the mayor and not by the director. ' City Charter, Sec. 106. [12 1 Likewise the mayor alone has ^^the exclusive right to suspend the chief of the division of police or fire for incompetence or any other just and reasonable cause." As a result, the chief is answerable to the director for his man- agement of police work, but responsible to the mayor and not the director as far as his "incompetence" is concerned. Only confused notions re- specting official responsibility can result from such a situation. In the matter of disciplinary action, it should be pointed out here that there is another step in the scale of responsibility beyond the mayor and director. The municipal civil service commission alone has the power to pass on charges preferred against the chief of police, and it renders final judgment as well in all cases involving lower ranks which may be appealed to the commission from the judgment of the director.^ Under such a scheme of confused responsibility for police business as has been outlined above, to whom do the people at Cleveland actually look for results in policing the city? Who is held to account when a wave of robberies, burglaries, or automobile thefts occurs? Is it the director of public safety or the chief of police? Which of the two officials bears the final responsibility? The answer under the present charter is, neither. Whenever the question of efficiency is called up, the director can point to the chief and say: "There is the man who is running the department. I neither appoint him nor remove him; he is subject to civil service pro- visions. If he doesn't do the job satisfactorily, I am not to blame." A chief under the same conditions can reply by saying: "If I had the last word in matters of discipline, so as to weed out the unfit regardless of their political friends and influences, and keep all others on their toes; if I could make the rules and regulations governing the department and could select my men in accordance with my own standards of judgment, I could accomplish better results." The whole scheme is admirably suited to the favorite game of "passing the buck" — an especially useful game where public criticism is involved. Moreover, the contention of each official, as suggested, would be abso- lutely correct so far as the charter goes. The director of public safety has wide general powers, but no specific contacts with the machinery he is controlling. The chief of police, on the other hand, is checked at a score of points where an administrator should have free initiative and com- plete authority. The chief's position at present is like that of a child driving a horse, while an adult sits beside him ready to grip the reins in front of his hands, whenever an important decision in the driving arises. Naturally, under the present arrangement, the whole complexion of ad- 1 This subject will be reviewed in some detail in a later section of this report. [13] ministration changes with shifts in the offices of director and chief, and since neither officer is dependent on the other for appointment or con- tinuance in office, such changes will be concurrent only by accident. Experience in the past has shown that with an aggressive type of man serving as chief the director will become a sort of fifth wheel whose exer- cise of his charter authority is likely at best to be a source of obstruction. With a less aggressive chief it is probable that the director will assume more influence in the disposition of members of the force than is in- tended in the charter, and more than he is fitted to assume by reason of the multiplicity of his duties and his remoteness from actual police opera- tions. Unless the chief be especially aggressive, almost to the point of standing against the director, the suggestions of the latter, because of his superior position, will be tantamount to orders. The practice of a former director of suggesting the names of men whom he desired to have detailed to the detective bureau, and the famous Order 73,^ are cases in point. With an aggressive chief of police, as at present, there is every opportunity of confusing the clear line of responsibility in a way which reacts against the chief as a penalty instead of reward for his attempted initiative. Recommendations 1. The best escape from the difficulties inherent in the present scheme involves a complete overhauling of the whole administrative machinery. In the first place, there should be a direct line of responsibility, running from a single head down through the whole organization. There should be no such short circuits as now exist between the chief and mayor around the director, who is the chief's superior. Final authority, commensurate with responsibility, should be lodged exclusively with the single directing head. This single leader should be in immediate charge of directing the operations of the force. 2. To accomplish these ends it is recommended that the police service be disassociated from the department of public safety and established as an independent department, coordinate with the other combined divi- sions of the department of public safety, the finance department, or the department of public utilities. From the police point of view, there is no good reason why the police service should be organically connected with the fire and buildings divi- sion. On the contrary, there are positive reasons why it should stand alone. Although both the police and fire divisions are established to ' This order provided that the poHce were not to raid gambUng houses or houses of ill fame without instructions from the director of public safety. [14] secure public safety, their fields of work differ widely. The fact that the personnel of the two divisions is organized on a semi-military basis is not sufficient justification for their common administration. The problems of fire extinguishment are physically definable and the work of fire prevention is highly specialized and easily reduced to mechanical standards; the uniformed force of the fire division deals with material elements. The police force deals largely with human relations; its problems are to a certain extent intangible. Firemen work in groups under the immediate direction of their superior officers; they respond to a fire in their properly assigned places and employ chemicals and other equipment as they are ordered by their officers in charge. The poUce- man's work is done largely on his own initiative, prompted by his own judgment. Policies affecting fire administration relate almost entirely to the financial aspects of providing equipment and men that are necessaiy in the light of definitely known insurance rates and fire hazards. PoUcies of poHce administration involve social and moral needs which are far removed from such factors as the storage of inflammables, hose and water pressure, and building regulations. There is no divided opinion about the desirability of putting out fires; there is considerable room for divi- sion of opinion as to how much money the city should pay for the in- tangible returns of crime prevention to be achieved through an enlarged and better equipped police force, or even as to ho w far the police may go in curbing individual liberties in their efforts to prevent crime. Thus, although these two forces are similarly organized, the objectives of their work are found to be wholly different and their methods of pro- cedure widely dissimilar, while the values of their work are appraised on entirely different bases. It may be contended that a combination of the police and fire divi- sions is necessary in order to assure active cooperation on the part of the police in looking for fires at night, assisting with rescue work, establish- ing fire Unes, and enforcing the ordinances and regulations of the code of fire prevention and protection. These things the police must do, but a common administration of police and fire is not necessary to effect such cooperation. The duties of the police would remain the same if the two divisions were not connected by an overhead scheme of management. It is not reasonable to suppose that the police would neglect the per- formance of such specific duties merely because their directing head is not also the directing head of the fire force. One might as well expect them to neglect making arrests because the head of the police service is not also in charge of courts and prosecutions, or to fail to report broken [15] manholes or leaking hydrants because their division is not organically connected with the departments of public utilities and public service. A saving in the expenses of administration may result from com- bining police, fire, and buildings, and the practice may be defended on the ground of economy in small cities where these divisions are not large. In Cleveland, however, the savings in the overhead cost of administra- tion are more than overbalanced by the loss in efficiency. Moreover, it is hardly possible to find a man with qualifications of expertnessin the supervision of the technical matters of fire fighting and building reg- ulation who qualifies also in understanding the human problems incident to policing. It may be sufficient to point out that Cleveland is one of the few large cities in the United States which still combine the administration of the police department with that of other branches of the municipal system. In most other cities the police force was long ago estabhshed as a separate entity under independent management. The same is true of all Euro- pean cities. There the police function is regarded as so important that no attempt is made to confuse its administration by bringing other public activities under its leadership. The time has come for Cleve- land to recognize the same principle and to give to the police department the administrative position which the importance of its work demands. 3. The department of police should be in charge of a single civilian administrative head, to be known as the director of police. The director should be appointed by the mayor with full responsibility for adminis- tering the police service, and should have the exclusive right to name his own immediate assistants, including the chief ranking office of ihe uni- formed force to correspond to the present chief of police. Such ap- pointments should be terminated at the will of the director. It should be the director's duty to la}-^ down a policy and program for police work, and to see that such policy is carried into effect by his subordinates. Under this arrangement the officer who develops the policies of police service will be subject to public reckoning, since his appointment and continuance in office depend on the mayor, who is subject to election. Undivided responsibility and authority would be reposed in a single officer at the head, and the line of responsibility and authority should continue downward direct and luibroken. Such a director should be chosen from outside the professional ranks of the department, just as the director of public safety has always been chosen. The management of police business demands as able an ad- ministrator as can be obtained. Indeed, in a city like Cleveland, and in many cities of lesser size, the task of police administration is so great [16] that the best man obtainable is none too good, and in an endeavor to find him, no search can be too thorough. That such a leader can be found in the ranks of a police force is in the highest degree improbable. The officer who has walked his "beat" as a patrolman, investigated crime as a detective, and managed the technical routine of station house activity as lieutenant or captain, is not fitted by this experience to ad- minister the complex affairs of a large police department. The chances are rather that he is unfitted for the task. Lacking in administrative experience, with scant appreciation of the larger possibilities of his position, often indeed without imagination or resourcefulness, he has little chance of success, and it would be unwise and cruel to saddle him with the responsibility. If police management were merely a matter of assignments, promotions, and discipline; if it had to do only with the ordering of a well-defined routine, any capable man who himself had been through the mill might be well adapted to handle it. But the task, particularly in large cities, is so much broader than routine, and involves activities of such vital consequence, that only a high order of creative intelligence can cope with it. The director must deal with community problems in the large. He must be familiar with the underlying social forces which are responsible for the need of police service. Constantly before him must be the conception of the depart- ment as an agency for the prevention of crime, and the consequent rela- tion of his work to all activities, social, economic, and educational, operating to that end. He must be able to interpret pubhc opinion, to be a community leader, and, above all, he must be qualified to inspire a great force of policemen. In addition he must have a thorough under- standing of the principles of administration. These qualifications are not readily found in the uniformed force, nor, indeed, are they easily found in any walk of life. For that reason the search for the right man should be broadcast, and no artificial bar- riers of politics or residence should be interposed. If the best man cannot be found in Cleveland, other sources should be examined. A residential qualification in such cases is as irrelevant as it would be if applied to the managing director of a railroad or to the head of a medical school or an experimental laboratory. In European cities there has been no thought of applying such a test for the reason that no one would care to limit so narrowly the field of choice. With the talent of Great Britain to draw from, for example, why should Liverpool or Birming- ham insist that its chief constable be recruited from its own population? Or what would be gained if Stuttgart were barred from inviting an experienced deputy commissioner from Munich to join its staff as com- 3 [17! missioner, and had, instead, to employ some inferior man from its citizenship? This is the conception that governs the public service of European municipalities and to a great extent its application accounts for the difference in municipal administration here and abroad. 4. Once chosen because of his peculiar abilities, the director of pohce should be regarded as a permanent fixture. While the right of the mayor to remove him should remain unabridged, the exercise of that right for political causes or for reasons other than those relating to his efficiency should be checked by a public opinion strong enough to insist upon re- taining a well-tried expert in an office as important as the directorship of poUce. A constantly shifting directorship of poHce can result in nothing but chaos. To gauge a well-trained administrator on the basis of his political faith is to introduce a factor as irrelevant and immaterial as his opinion on art or literature. When the right man is found for so highly developed a specialty, the city should cling to him as a business concern would cling to an indispensable employee. Only proved in- eflSciency or complete lack of sympathy with the police policies of the mayor should be sufficient cause for removal. Here again we can find excellent example in the police departments not only of England and Scotland, but of France and Switzerland as well, to say nothing of several American cities where the principle of continuitj^ in the police directorship has been followed with marked success. In Boston, Commissioner O'Meara served twelve j^ears under four different administrations, both Democratic and RepubHcan. The same situation today holds true in Milwaukee and in Berkeley, Cali- fornia, where over a long period of years the heads of the two police departments have served without interruption in spite of the kaleido- scopic changes in mayors and councils. Similarly, European cities always appoint their directors and commissioners of police as a board of directors selects a general manager or other official, not for a definitel}' established term, but on the basis of satisfactory work. Their task is to find men capable of serving indefinitely — men who have the abiUty and the will- ingness to devote a lifetime to the administrative problem. When such a man is found, there is no disposition to experiment with anybody else. No one would care to assume responsibility for jeopardizing an organiza- tion in which, as in all forms of business enterprise, continuity of ad- ministration is the best guarantee of effectiveness. 5. The director must have under him a chief executive officer who will serve as the superintendent or general manager of operations. Under such a scheme, what should be the relationship between the director and his chief subordinate? [18] The director should have the task of laying down the general program and policy of policing, and of determining the financial needs of the de- partment. He should represent the department in all its external con- tacts, such as with the appropriating body, the other departments of government, as well as the schools, churches, and welfare and civic agencies. He should determine, as a matter of policy, how much of the available resources of the department should be devoted to the regula- tion of traffic, as against the necessity, for example, of carrying on pre- ventive work in connection with crime. In all the welter of laws and ordinances he should decide where police emphasis is to be placed. Once the policy in such matters is determined, it should then fall to the chief line officer in charge of actual operations to see that these policies are carried into effect. If there were a question of establishing one-way streets, for example, or of rerouting street-cars, to facilitate the movement of traffic, the director would deal with the street railway company and the commercial interests affected by the proposed changes, making the decision in cases of conflict between the needs of the general public and the private interests involved. He would, in the first in- stance, depend on the recommendation of subordinate experts in the traffic regulation. When the policy is decided, he would turn to the chief executive officer to see that the police carry out the new policy. In short, the director would determine how much and what type of police service is needed, and the chief professional officer would see that such service is carried out to the best of his ability with the men and equipment given him for the purpose. The one asks for certain results and the other manages the machinery used in getting the results. A policy may be laid down by the administrative head, but the manner in which the routine work is executed gives color to the policy. Hence the head must have a superintendent or general manager of operations who understands his policies and has sufficient sympathy with their accomplishment to go about his work with the enthusiasm of con- viction. Half-hearted execution practically amounts to obstruction. It is especially important, therefore, for the head of the police department to be able to choose the man in whom he has personal confidence. On no other basis can true leadership be developed. 6. For this reason the superintendent or the chief of police — what- ever his title might be — as the immediate subordinate of the director, should not be chosen as a result of competitive civil service examinations. The objection will at once be made that the present scheme, wherein the office of chief of police is surrounded by the protection of civil service regulations, makes for continuity of administration in the leadership of [19] the police, and that this continuity is the only protection against the ravages of politics. This assumes, in the first place, that continuity in this particular office is a guarantee of effective policing, and, in the second place, that Cleveland is hopelessly unregenerate in the matter of politics and inferior to other cities of a similar size. It is an open question how much is gained by an enforced continuity of service which is shorn of power by officers who are controlled by the fortunes of politics. More- over, the non-political aspect of the chief's tenure in Cleveland — i. e., guarantee against removal on account of politics — is a singularly weak argument in its form when it is considered that the appointments to the office have been surrounded by all of the manceuvering known to politics. In the not remote past the custom has been privately to avow candi- dacies for appointment to the office of chief whenever a vacancy oc- curred, or when it was known that a vacancy was about to occur. Thus some of the higher officers in the department have approached business men of Cleveland, newspaper editors, and friends to secure their influ- ence and aid in getting the appointment. Accordingly, newspapers and other interests have had their candidates, though perhaps not openly avowed, in much the same way as if the office were an elective one. The truth of the matter is that civil service protection in high admin- istrative police positions does not guard the community, certainly in Cleveland, against politics. Politics can get around any artificial sys- tem. On the other hand, with public opinion on the alert, politics can be kept in control without any system at all. In Boston and Detroit the incumbent superintendents of police, who are the professional heads of the police force, — corresponding in that relationship to the chief of police in Cleveland, — have held office thi-oughout successive changes in the terms of the administrative heads. Yet these officials are not subject to civil service provisions of any sort. Their appointment and dismissal rest in the discretion of their superiors. The same is true in London and other European cities. Such a continuity of service, based on freedom of choice, has real meaning, but a continuity based on the inherent diffi- culties of removal through a civil service trial nullifies responsibility and stultifies the work of any administrator, however enterprising. What every police force needs is leadership — one official to whom the community can say, "Thou art the man!" and who has power corre- sponding to his responsibility. We shall never solve the police problem in America until we give honest and effective leadership an opportunity to show what it can do. Some time or other we have to make a begin- ning of trusting our public officials. Checks and balances to curb and minimize possible abuses of power have gotten us nowhere. Complex [20] systems to prevent bias and unfairness have brought nothing but con- fusion. It is time to take off a few of the yokes that have made pubUc administration an impossible task, and put a new emphasis on positive quahties. The problem before us is not how to build up a structure that will circumvent the dishonest and incompetent official, but, after finding a competent and honest official, to surround him with conditions in which he can make himself effective. Just as the community should, if necessary, go outside its own boun- daries to get the best director possible, so the director should disregard all questions of residence in selecting his chief subordinate. Indeed, in view of the present demarcations in the police force in Cleveland, due largely to religious differences, such a step might be distinctly advisable. So long as there are in the department group-conscious Catholics and Masons, playing the part of the "ins" and the "outs," with discrimina- tions practised by one group against the other as opportunity offers, just so long will it be difficult for a director to choose from the Cleveland force a chief who can command the unquestioned loyalty and support of his men. It will probably take the strong hand of an outsider, with no group to represent, with no old scores to settle, to put the final quietus to this factional nonsense. In any event the director, as the responsible head of his department, should be free to select his immediate subordi- nate on the basis of such qualifications as he himself determines. 21 CHAPTER IV PROVISION OF PERSONNEI^ITS SELECTION AND TRAINING THE charter provides that the police force shall consist of a chief of police and "such officers, patrolmen, and other employees as may be provided by ordinance or resolution of the council."^ In accordance with this provision, the city council determines what is knowTi as the "authorized" number of police for each rank, from the rank of patrol- man to inspector of police. The appointing authority is not compelled to recruit the force up to the authorized strength. He cannot, however, make appointments in excess of the number set by councilmanic action. The task of recruiting the force belongs to the civil service commission, original entrance to the department being by competitive examination. Actual appointments are made by the director of pubUc safety from eligible Usts certified by the civil service commission. An analysis has been made of the original appointments to the depart- ment from 191-4 up to and including the first two months of 1921, to determine the type of men who are drawn into police service. Particular attention has been given the appointments made in 1914 and 1921, since more nearly normal conditions prevailed in those years. The period be- tween these two years presented unusual circumstances. Just prior to this country's entry into the war competition with industry seriously affected police recruiting, and from 1917 until after the completion of demobilization the scarcity of apphcants made it difficult to keep up the authorized strength of the department. As a result, considerable modi- fication of the standards governing entrance requirements was necessary. By 1921, however, conditions were normal in respect to the number of persons making appHcation for police appointment. Previous Occupation A review of the occupational sources from which poUcemen are re- cruited shows that they are drawn from a wade range of civil employ- » City Charter, Sec. 103. [22 1 merits. Considering the occupations of the 56 men appointed during 1914, it is found that, of the occupations engaged in prior to entering the poHce department, only six had furnished more than one representative. Machinists numbered six, carpenters three, shipping clerks, ship-builders, foremen (not further specified), railroad firemen, and street-car in- spectors numbered two each. The remaining 37 came from as many occupations.^ An analysis of the previous occupations of the first 133 men appointed in 1921 shows that there were 14 occupations from which more than one recruit was drawn, accounting for 87 men altogether. Of these, 19 Avere machinists and machinists' helpers, 12 truck drivers, 10 chauffeurs, eight electricians and electrical workers, six carpenters, six from the plumbing trades, five clerks, etc. Forty-seven other occupa- tions were Hsted, including a physical director, tree surgeon, barber, chef, sailor, musician, farmer, draftsman, chocolate maker, etc. Those who might be classified generally as manual workers numbered 111, or 83 per cent., and the miscellaneous non-manual occupations accounted for 22 appointees, or 17 per cent. The previous experience of new policemen is, therefore, diversified, and offers almost no common factors which may be utihzed in planning their training. With many of these men the choice of work is largely a hit-or-miss matter. Most of them finally settle upon policing mthout giving much thought to its significance or to its possibilities as a career. They think of it as a job giving steady employment and compensation equal to or better than what they were able to obtain in commercial fields. This raw material, possessing every sort of occupational experience, must be molded into as great a degree of uniformity as possible. The recruits must first be converted into patrolmen as a sort of common denominator. When this has been done, the same men must be recon- verted into detectives and special investigators, such as those attached to the vice squad. Some must give special attention to work with ju- veniles, and in the absence of women police, others are required to do work which should naturally fall to a division of women police. The large proportion of men who are drawn from the various types of ^ The 37 occupations were as follows: assembler, ball-bearing inspector, box- maker, brass finisher, brazing shifts, bricklayer, clerk, chauffeur, conductor (street- car), driver, electric crane operator, engineer, foundryman, gateman, glazier, hotel clerk, houseman, inspector (street), inspector (factory), iron-worker, laborer, meter- reader, mill worker, molder, mover, patternmaker, plate worker, presser, salesman, shoe clerk, stone assembler, trainman, tug fireman, tug despatcher, wire weaver, woodworker. manual work is due to economic considerations and is not ascribable to any relation between police work and the manual occupations. While the physical demands of patroling are considerable, the work does not in any sense involve skill or adaptability in the use of the hands. Physical prowess is required as a sort of incidental qualification, but mental alertness is the primary quaUfication. The routine manual occupations count for little as a basis of experience in making observations and exer- cisinp; judj2;ment in taking police action. Thus, men who have been trained to know how to do things are brought over into a new field, utterly foreign to their experience, where they are concerned with what to do. Of course, the mere fact that a man has been a manual worker, often by force of accidental circumstance, does not mean that he cannot be the sort of brain worker that a policeman must be. Manual work need not be held to disqualify him. On the other hand, it in no way qualifies him for the more important phases of a poUceman's task. The significant fact in Cleveland is that by far the largest percentage of its policemen are recruited from occupations whose character is as far removed from the character of police work as can be. Consequently there are bound to be many misfits, many instances of poUcemen whose total lack of qualifica- tions for their work is altogether too obvious. Age of Appointees The ages at which men enter Cleveland's police service is also worthy of our consideration. According to present civil service regulations, 21 is the minimum and 35 the maximum age at which men may be eligible for appointment to the pohce force. Of the 56 men appointed iji 1914, only one was aged below 25 and 55 were twenty-five years of age or over. Out of the 186 men appointed in 1920, there were 73, or 39 per cent., aged below twenty-five, and 113, or 61 per cent., twenty-five or over. Similarly in 1921, of the first 134 men appointed, 55, or 41 per cent., were aged below twenty-five and the remaining 59 per cent, were twenty-five or over.^ Considering the more recent appointments, it is found that approximately one-fourth of the 1920 appointees were thirty years of age and over. Somewhat more than one-fourth of the first group of 1921 appointees were thirty or over. We beheve that the maximum age for appointment to the patrol force should not exceed thirty years, and that a special effort should be made to recruit, as far as possible, men between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five. It is said that men over twenty-five possess the advantage of maturity in their • The age of one appointee was not given: these figures and percentage calcula- tions are for 133 men. [24] fund of knowledge and that they are, on the whole, more reliable than "boys" between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five. If the sound- ness of this position were to be fully admitted, it would be logical to con- clude that the considerable number of men who have entered the depart- ment at an age below twenty-five have not been competent to do credita- ble police work. But this is not the fact. Indeed, it is only in a few isolated cases that criticisms of individual acts are laid to the youthful- ness of policemen, and even then the criticism is made for want of a better reason. Individual cases of failure to take proper police action are found to be due not so much to lack of maturity as to lack of experience in handling similar situations or faulty temperament. It is experience in the exercise of judgments required of policemen in the daily round that counts for most, and not the general maturity attaching to age. Nor is tempera- ment a quality to be measured by age. True, the young man under twenty-five may become excited and lack self-composure in trying situa- tions, and when such is the case, the criticism of incompetence is merited. The same may be true, however, of the man who is thirty. Higher police officials, whenever consulted on this point, agree that a man of twenty- five who has four years of actual police experience to his credit is almost invariably a better agent than the recruit of thirty or thirty-five who has had fewer years of experience. On the other hand, there are distinct advantages to be had in recruit- ing the younger men to the service. In the first place, younger men are more readily trained and molded in response to the desires of the officers who direct them. Inspector Cahalane, who was, for a long time, in charge of the New York Police Training School, said: "Give me the boys in preference to the older men and I can more easily make policemen of them." In training men for the mounted service in New York, it has been found that the best results are achieved with men who have never ridden a horse. " They don't have to unlearn how to ride," said an officer in charge of the mounted squad. Men who know how to ride are accus- tomed to using the horse for the purpose of covering ground rapidly. Most mounted police work, however, is done with the horse in a walk or standing, and requires a different style of riding altogether. So it is with other types of police work. The fewer preconceived notions the police recruit has developed, the easier it is to train him in the peculiar require- ments of police work generally. Mature men do not lend themselves to instruction and molding as readily as do the younger men, whose minds are more open and whose habits are less fixed. It must be noted that the men who begin patrol work at an early age [25] have much the best chance of maintaining physical fitness until the end of twenty or twenty-five years of continuous service. Over 80 per cent, of the men of any police force continue in actual field work without pro- motion. Entering as patrolmen, they remain as patrolmen to the end. The man who enters the force at the age of twenty-one may be expected to measure up to the rigorous demands of his work until he has reached the age of forty-six, whereas allowances will likely be required for the man who begins at thirty or thirty-five and continues to the age of fifty- five or sixty. If for no other reason than to protect the city's investment in pension moneys allowed upon disability, there should be an effort to recruit the younger men in preference to the older ones. Field service in all hours and in all kinds of weather will much sooner bring disability to the man of fifty-five than to the man of forty-five. The point that younger men are needed in the police department is strongly enforced by the experience of European cities. In London the minimum age for appointment to the force is twenty and the maximum twenty-seven. In Liverpool the minimum age is twenty-one and the maximum twenty-five. In Glasgow the maximum age is twenty-five, and in Manchester the maximum is twenty-eight. Paris has a maximum age of thirty, the higher limit being due to compulsory army service, which, under the old dispensation, took two years out of the young man's life. Turnover in the Patrol Force A further analysis of the histories of the men appointed during the years which we have been reviewing shows that the number of resigna- tions during the first few years following appointment is excessive.' Table 1 shows the record of voluntary separations from the service of men ap- pointed in the given years. The figures do not include the total number of separations. During this six-year period there were other resignations of men appointed in years prior to 1914 not included in the above calculation. These have not been included, as we are concerned only with showing the actual proportion of resignations for any one year's appointments. There are a few men dismissed from the department by order of the director of public safety who must be added to the voluntary resignations. The combined record of appointments, resignations, and dismissals for these years is given in Table 2. This is a high turnover of personnel for a service supposed to be pro- fessional in character, one that is made attractive by reason of its guaran- tee against periods of unemployment and by offering retirement on pension after twenty-five years of continuous service. Notwithstanding [26] TJ to £ ii CO to-* CO i> s 1 -*^ 03 03 CO O M t^co ■ • • r'^ 43 o to hc -c bC.3 ■ T— ( ■ • • (U _t- a y q; IS -c S ^ ■<^ f-( O a -*j Mg o .s ^ 3 to to ^ ^ lOCO ■ ■ • 5 4 C3 Q ^ ^ '-3 o r 03 s _bC to hC bC.S o T-H •-* IC ■ 9^ ^ O a to o3 s to tu 3 Q O M COTfcOOO • -C o O! hC O) rH bE.3 CO -(MTt*© 1—1 -C S U D. c V 3 Q to 0; O M ^1 ■* ■* Lo o r^ .-HCO(N o s3 II CD CO (M CD CO lOlM t^OGO ^ a (M--! ^& -TS (U S3 a M< CDOOOSO ^H 1-1 rt ^H c^ 03 05 03 I— 1 rH 1—1 1—1 ,-H a, 03 to a "^-2 3 pis 2£ > to ■ - to CD t^ t~^ O 1-1 02.-3 ^ s Tt^ O ■<*' i-J CO OD J TfHcDCOcOfN <: to e ^"^ JK C a> CO o ::, HH ■-3 bC S 2« 02 03X K- 1 a-^ Q to.S to -ti §c.S O to oT 3 a > 03 .^ to |"s ocqcot^03 T-oaJ ;2; J^. 03 Tfl IOCO(M rH O O 02 > (MMi-ti-icD S s s i H •— -J-S *-* g Q -§ t^ O P^ < fe o o Q i'sS? P4 .9-0 'I o o t^ c >, fOiorjH cot^ Mi (M 1-H (M iCCO w « S-^ Q « ^ W ^ HH m ^ 73 o o S'g OGOtNCDCD 1 LO (M t> O CO 1 3 S- C^i-i c4 Z 03 W hJ m ) ;^1 03 03 03 03 03 1— ( 1— 1 1— I 1— ( 1— ( D, eS 27] these factors making for permanency of tenure, it is found that of the men appointed in 1914, 1916, and 1918, no less than one in three appointed in any one year had left the department by the beginning of 1921. Of the 1916 appointees, three out of every five resigned or were dismissed by 1921. Of the 1920 appointees, almost one-fourth of the number left the ser- lice for one cause or another within the first year of their appointment ! What are the causes of the large turnover of police personnel? In the first place, there may be cited the failure of a portion of the men to measure up to the demands of police work, resulting in dismissal or the initiation of disciplinary action leading to voluntary resignation. Ap- proximately one-sixth of the 1916 group left the service for these reasons. The same was true of nearly one-fourth of the 1914 and 1918 groups, and slightly less than one-third of the 1919 and 1920 appointees. Again, rates of pay given to policemen during the years under review have not been sufficient to hold the men in the department. By 1920 it is true that the increase in salary brought police pay into line with salaries paid in many commercial employments. Whatever the rates of psiy, it is safe to say that the salary schedules of the Cleveland force have never been determined on the basis of their adequacy to hold the men in content- ment once they were drawn into the department. Moreover, salary schedules have been devised with the view to getting a given quota of men and not to getting men having personal qualifications particularly useful in police work. A less tangible reason for the impermanency of tenure is that no ade- quate consideration of the nature of police work is given by the individual before entering upon it. As has been pointed out before, police employ- ment is more often than not considered merely as a job to satisfy imme- diate needs. The resignations show that many recruits do not approach police work with any serious notion of beginning at the bottom round of a distinctive profession and developing a life career. The police department is burdened, therefore, with a good proportion of men out of each group appointed, who are soon going to be discon- tented or who have no serious intention of performing creditable work as a basis for a career as policemen. The fault cannot properly be laid at the door of the men who apply for appointment. It is the business of the municipahty, as the employer, to make its selections with thoroughgoing care rather than to pass out jobs to a given number of men who happen to want the job at the time and who have certain simple qualifications of physique and education. Yet there is no conscious effort on the part either of the civil service commission — which is primarily responsible — or of police officials to influence recruiting in this direction. [28] In this connection the practice in the London police department can well serve as a model. The utmost care is exercised by the London authorities in the selection of police recruits. Recruiting agents are con- stantly traveling from place to place in the country districts of England, and even in Scotland and Wales, looking for available men for the Lon- don force. They go about their business in workmanlike fashion, utiliz- ing newspaper advertisements, and even bill-posters, and the greatest care is taken to weed out not only the unfit, from a physical and mental standpoint, but those who, in the judgment of the recruiting agents, give the impression that they are not looking upon the police service as a per- manent profession. In Cleveland, advertising for police recruits is of the most meager sort, consisting merely in a formal announcement in the papers that a competitive examination for entrance to the police department will be held on a date specified. For a while during the war some effort was made to use motion picture films to stimulate possible apphcants, but this has been abandoned for the simple reason that there is now a sufficient number of applicants. The newspaper advertisement marks the end of the city's effort to attract men to the police service. Thereafter it is only a matter of measuring the men who present themselves. Whoever meets the requirements of residence, height, minimum and maximum weight and chest measurements, is entitled to continue in the examina- tions. These consist of a medical and physical examination as a qualify- ing test, and an educational examination, which is given to those who successfully pass the physical tests. The subjects of the examination, with the weights attaching to each one, are as follows: writing 1, spelling 1, arithmetic 1, practical questions 2, oral examination 1, muscular strength 1, military or naval experience in recent war and honorable dis- charge L Applicants making a final average rate of 70 per cent, or over are placed on a list of those eligible for appointment. The examinations involve minimum standards. The tests really de- termine how far above the passable minimum standards the applicants stand and are not adjusted to measure the full capacity of the more capable applicants. Another evidence of the fact that the examinations are designed to accommodate minimum or qualifying standards rather than to measure maximum capacities is shown by the practice of giving the same kind of examination — not the same questions, however — re- gardless of whether there are 50 applicants or 1,000. Types of examina- tion are not adjusted to changes in the supply of men nor is there any modification made in response to the need for selecting special types of men in the light of the department's requirements. Indeed, there is no [29] conversation between the officers of the civil service commission and of the poUce department on such matters. As a result of the examinations applicants are divided roughly into two groups, the hopelessly unfit, who are promptly thrown out, and those who have made marks better than the minimum requirement. The latter are all retained on the eligible list, with certain technical limita- tions. The commission does not erect a scaling-wall which is heightened when applicants are many and which is made sufficiently difficult of scaling to measure the capacities of the superior competitors. Finally, there is no effort, by either the civil service commission or the police department, to convey to prospective applicants any adequate notion of the prospects, demands, and possibiUties of poUce service as a career. The men are taken as they come. If suitable men are not at- tracted, it is held to be regretable. Standards of police work are then fashioned to fit the capacities of the men certified to the department by the civil service commission. There is never any attempt to set the standards in accordance with the actual demands of constructive and improved methods of policing, through special efforts to get the kind of men who measure up to these standards. While the police department exercises no initiative in going after the men it wants, it does have some opportunity of looking into such per- sonal qualifications of the applicants as are not shown in the civil service examination. Under the present arrangement the civil service com- mission requires the police department to make a report on a character investigation of each applicant who has successfully passed the examina- tions. This investigation is conducted by the commanding officers of the precincts in which the applicants have their residence, and is a more complete investigation than is conducted in most cities. This is the police department's sole opportunity, although in a limited and purely negative way, to set its own standards. With the civil service list established, the appointing authority has an opportunity to exercise some choice in making selections, under the provision of the law which permits him to choose one out of three who are certified by the civil service commission as eligible. This privilege is generally waived, and the policy is followed of appointing in one, two, three order from the list. However, the wisdom of this discretion allowed the appointing authority has been abundantly justified in other cities, and as long as recruits to the department continue to come through the channel of the civil service commission, the provision should be main- tained. 30 Civil Service as a Source of Recruits As has been pointed out above, we are by no means satisfied with the way in which the civil service commission has discharged its obligations toward the police department. In spite of the fact that many of the commission's activities are prescribed by law in detailed fashion, its work has been too inelastic and stereotyped to obtain the best results. As a consequence, the department contains far too many men who are lacking in important qualifications necessary to a good policeman. It has been discouraging to examine the reports which the men are required to render in the course of their daily operations. Many of these reports show an utter lack of the ordinary intelligence demanded in making an observation the record of which becomes an official public document. A single illustrative example will suffice: Nov. 16, 1920. "First Precinct, Lieut. Huge. "About 11:15 Sergt. Harwood went to the rear of the building & very shortly after that he came to the front again & that, that time a yong lady coming east was entering the building and I stoped her asking the questions as I was instructed to, this yong lady refused to give her name & the Sergt. interfered & said to this young lady to give me her name in which she did & about 11:30 or 11:40 a man coming west made an atempt to enter the hotel & this was Mr. , we three stood there up till the time he left was about 12 : 05 a.m. & in the meantime about 11:50 another man came while the three of us were talking, this man I dont know his name & came there with a machine to my knowledge, & all of this time when Mr. came, up till the time he left the sergt was still in the front of the House, this is far as I can remember & about 12:15 or 12:20 A.M. I was ordered by Sergt Harwood to go to the rear of the building & tell the man in the rear to come to the front and that time this third man was still there. "Respectfully, "Patrolman." However, we believe that as far as appointments to the force are con- cerned, the civil service commission can probably be more wisely em- ployed than the police department itself. Generally speaking, civil ser- vice commissions, not only in Cleveland, but elsewhere, have done a great deal to raise the standards of eligibility in poUce appointments and to eliminate the unfit. Moreover, they relieve the police administrator of a vast burden of detail. The latter's whole concern is to secure raw recruits who can be turned into honest and intelligent policemen, and [311 any plan or machinery which will produce this material upon demand adds to the effectiveness of his administration. Arthur Woods, former police commissioner of New York, who cannot be charged with being overfriendly to civil service, defines its application to the problem of pohce appointments as follows: "It is undoubtedly about as good a method as any other for picking out quahfied candidates, for the men come from all walks of hfe, and seemingly from every profession, trade, and job there is. No comparative record could be obtained, nor could the judgment of employers fairly be used to distinguish between one man and another, since there might be a thousand different employers for a thousand applicants, and as many varying standards as employers." If, therefore, civil service could be looked upon as machinery for furnishing raw material, and if the police executive had the unchallenged right to reject, after probation, any candidates who proved unsatis- factory, there would be httle in this phase of activity which could inter- fere with the principle of responsible leadership. Cleveland's civil service system needs a thorough overhauling and a keener appreciation of the tasks and responsibiHties of the pohce department for which it selects recruits. Police Til\ining School The department is to be commended for its full-time training course of eight weeks for recniits. A lieutenant of poUce, enthusiastic and am- bitious for its successful promotion, is in immediate charge. One reason for the school's firmly estabUshed position is to be found in Chief Smith's healthy interest in its welfare. To him is due the credit for its original establishment a few years ago — a noteworthy achievement in the depart- ment's history. Considering the resources that are available, the school for recruits is well conducted. There is need for better equipment, especially for physical training and for a larger staff of instructors. There is room, too, for considerable development or rather evolution of the school. In the first place, it should be more than a school for recruits. Indeed, it should be the department's university, providing instruction for veterans and officers, and such specialists as detectives and men of the mounted ser- vice. The idea should be to have a school in which all ranks should con- stantly be "freshening up" — to use Colonel Woods' expression — in pohce technique. The purpose of such courses should be to keep the officers from becoming "rusty," lest the recruits fresh from school be better versed in special subjects than their superiors. From time to time lec- tures might be given to members of various ranks by criminologists, [32] lawyers, identification experts, and other specialists in fields related to police work. Such special phases of police activity as discipline, prep- aration of records, and the giving of bail might also be discussed in occasional courses. To this plan was due the splendid efficiency of the New York force under Commissioner Woods, and its wide adoption in such cities as London and Liverpool proves its worth. We suggest, too, that the school be developed in such a way as to become the staff agency of the department, serving as a personnel service division. The school is primarily engaged in converting into poUcemen the raw material furnished by civil service lists. What better agency is there for passing efficiently on the quality and adaptability of this raw material? If the personality tests, such as were recommended by the chief in his last annual report, are to be conducted, or psj'chological tests of one sort or another are to be held, the training school is the proper agency for conducting them. In other words, the school should be constantly engaged in studying the problems relating to personnel. When the classes are not in session, specialists attached to the school might devote their time to working out efficiency record systems and doing other research work in connection with tests and instructions. Industrial concerns recognize the value of the investment in personnel service departments. The police depart- ment of Cleveland has a large enough force to justify an investment in the same sort of work. 33 CHAPTER V PROMOTION The System of Promotion THE selection of recruits is but the first step in the provision of police personnel. Filling the quotas of special divisions in the de- partment and filling the higher posts through promotion are the next steps. Regular assignment to the detective bureau is generally- considered as a promotion by reason of the increased compensation al- lowed, but it is not technically a promotion since detectives are only detailed to the detective bureau and the men so detailed continue in the rank held at the time of their assignment. Promotions are governed entirely by the rules and regulations of the civil service commission. These regulations provide that all promotions in the uniformed force of the police department — excluding only civilian employees — "shall be from class to class, from the lowest class to the highest," within the force. Thus, promotion to any given rank in the department is restricted to the membership of the next lower rank, and it is, therefore, impossible to fill any post above the rank of patrolman by making appointments from outside the department. All promotions are made as a result of competitive examinations con- ducted by the civil service commission. Eligible lists are furnished by the commission, and the director of public safety is obliged to make promo- tions from this list. Examinations given to applicants for promotion include the following subjects: "Writing, spelling, arithmetic, practical questions, as in the judgment of the commission pertain to the office to which said applicant seeks promotion; State laws and city ordinances pertaining to the duties of said office; rules and regulations of the depart- ment; seniority and record in the service of the applicant, and such other subjects or tests as the commission may prescribe."^ A patrolman is not eligible to promotion to the rank of sergeant until after he has served three years as a patrolman. Sergeants and lieu- ^ Rule XVII, Sec. 5, of the Rules and Regulations of the Civil Service Commis- sion of the city of Cleveland. [34] tenants must have served two years in their respective ranks before they are eligible for promotion to the next higher rank. A patrolman who has served as many as five years in the department is entitled to a marking of 100 per cent, on seniority as one of the subjects of the promotional examination. If a patrolman has served as many as three years, but less than five, his marking in seniority is reduced 10 per cent, for each year less than five. In a similar way sergeants who are examined for pro- motion to the rank of lieutenant are entitled to a marking of 100 per cent, on seniority after the completion of seven years' service in the de- partment, two years of which must have been served in the rank of sergeant, and a reduction of 10 per cent, in the seniority marking is made for each year less than the seven served in the department. Appli- cants for promotion to captaincy must have served ten years in the department to obtain a marking of 100 per cent, on seniority, and 10 per cent, is deducted for each year less than ten years served. The ''record" of an applicant for promotion, another factor counted in promotional examinations, is determined solely upon the basis of the applicant's disciplinary record in the department. Thus, if the record shows that the applicant has not been charged with a violation of the rules and regulations of the department within a period of five years immediately preceding the date of application for promotion, he is en- titled to a marking of 100 per cent, on record. The regulations further provide that if the applicant "shall have been within such five years under charges for and found guilty of any offense specified in articles 1 to 12 inclusive, of Rule XIII, of the rules of the department,^ he shall have charged against him 20 per cent, (meaning 20 per cent, deduction from the record rating of 100 per cent.) for each of such charges; and for 1 Articles 1 to 12 inclusive, which are deemed specific cause for suspension from the department under charges, are as follows: Art. 1. For intoxication while on duty or while in uniform. Art. 2. For being a user of intoxicating liquor to excess. Art. 3. For being engaged directly or indirectly as a vendor of intoxicating liquors. Art. 4. For wilful disobedience of any order lawfully issued to him by a superior officer in the department. Art. 5. For incompetency to perform the duties of his office. Art. 6. For conviction of any crime or misdemeanor against the laws of the United States or the laws of the State of Ohio or for conviction of any violation of a lawful ordinance of the city of Cleveland. Art. 7. For making known any proposed movement of the department to any person not a member of this department. Art. 8. For unnecessary and unwarranted violence to a prisoner. [35] conviction of any offense specified in articles 13 to 21 inclusive^ of said rule XIII, he shall have charged against him ten (10) per cent, for each of such charges." ^ Limitations and Defects of the System The practice of giving some credit for seniority is to be commended, and the markings for senioritj^ ratings are reasonably scheduled. That portion of the examination which embraces the calculation of an appli- cant's "record" is a disguised attempt to permit the applicant's work and experience to have some weight in an examination looking to pro- motion. As a matter of fact, it is nothing more than a penalty schedule — wholly negative in character. It is nothing short of absurd to imply that the present civil service examination for promotion in the police service gives any credit for meritorious work performed by members of the department who are being examined. A mere absence of disciplinary charges indicates nothing as to the character of work done by the applicant for promotion, nor, indeed, whether much of any sort of work was done. Under the present scheme of record rating the mediocre man, if he avoid an open breach of the rules, as most of them can do without great effort, is placed on an equal footing, as far as record goes, with the energetic, able, and efficient officer who has also kept out of trouble. No attempt is made to give credit in a Art. 9. For cowardice or lack of energy of such character as to amount either to incompetency or to gross neglect of duty. Art. 10. For sleeping while on duty. Art. 11. For wilfully or continually violating any of the rules or regulations of the department. Art. 12. For habitually contracting debts which he is unable or unwilling to pay or for refusing or without reasonable excuse to discharge his lawful obligations. 1 Articles 13 to 21 inclusive of Rule XIII are also specific causes for suspension. They are as follows: Art. 13. For intoxication while not on active duty. Art. 14. For indecent, profane, or harsh language while on duty or in unifonn. Art. 15. For disrespect shown to a superior officer in the department. Art. 16. For any neglect of duty. Art. 17. For absence without leave. Art. IS. For gossiping about the affairs of the department. Art. 19. For conduct unbecoming an officer, patrolman, or a gentleman. Art. 20. For conduct subversive to the good order and discipline of the de- partment. .Art. 21. For neglecting to report his change of residence to the officer in charge of his precinct. * From rules and regulations of the civil ser\'ice commission. 136] positive way for valuable work performed. Instead of allowing the mere absence of wrongdoing the highest mark that is given for police "record," a clean disciplinary record should be rated as a normal median. Failure to measure up to the least that is expected of every member of the depart- ment — compliance with the rules — should apply as a subtraction in the shape of demerits from the median rating. But demerits should be only a part of a man's record. Provision should be made for showing the converse side of the record by taking into account the opposite of neg- lectfulness, disobedience, and the performance of improper police action. In other words, credit for meritorious work should be given in the form of an addition to the normal median rating. It is only in this way that a premium can be placed on accomplishing more than the avoidance of wrongdoing. Considering the promotional examination as a whole, we believed it is not well adapted for the wise selection of men possessing qualities fitting them for the tasks which promotion imposes upon them; that, as far as the mere attainment of promotion is concerned, no adequate reward, hence no adequate stimulus, is given for the accomplishment of superior police work ; that opportunities for preparation and for obtain- ing high marks in the examination are unequal; that an examination for a rank where no knowledge is given the applicant of what specific duty he may be assigned to perform — whether patrol, traffic, detective, or crime prevention duty — is an unsound practice; and finally that re- sponsibility for the appraisal of the personnel assets of the department and utilization of those assets through promotion are too far removed from the official who is responsible for directing the men. The present scheme of having an independent body apply the tests which determine eligibility for promotion was devised primarily as a pro- tection against a possible display of favoritism in making promotions. The plan has met with success in so far as it has minimized political, social, and religious influences as factors in determining promotion. This, however, is a purely negative achievement. On the positive side there is little if anything to show that there is an advantage to be gained in turn- ing over the matter of promotions to an outside body. The written examination and the seniority and disciplinary record fall short in meas- uring the qualifications most needed in superior officers, for example, integrity, executive ability, and a natural disposition to assume the initiative. These qualities are all important to men filUng the higher posts in a police department, yet they are not reckoned with in the pro- motional examinations conducted by the civil service commission. In- stead, facility in arithmetic and spelling and abiHty to answer certain [37] commonplace practical questions are the measurements applied. The examination at present tests what an applicant knows. What he can do, what he has the spirit to do, and what he has done are significant considerations which are altogether neglected. Judgment of fitness for promotion in work where initiative and zeal play so large a part must take into account the experience basis for determining differences between the hard workers and the lazy, between the thorough ones and the hasty or careless, between the backward- pulling, disgruntled dispositions and the enthusiastic, forward-looking men. Any method of selection which omits this test is inadequate and hence unfair to the men involved, and inimicable to the welfare of the department. It is possible to cram for an examination, which is certain to be much like the examinations previously held for promotion to the same rank, and the applicants devote much time and thought in preparing for it. In this connection it is to be observed that the lieutenant, for example, who has an assignment in a quiet precinct or at some post which allows him considerable leisure, has the important advantage of time at his disposal during which he may prepare for an examination. In this way he may easily secure an advantage over a lieutenant who is energetically carrying on his work in a busy precinct and continuing it to such hours that he has neither energy nor time left for productive study. The latter man is building up an experience in the practical operation of the day's routine, but it stands him in no stead when he is called to compete in a promotional examination. Under the civil service arrangement examinations for a giVen rank are held in advance of the actual need for making a promotion. The grades and standings on the eligible list for promotion to, and including the rank of captain of police, established as a result of the examination markings, remain in force for two years, although, after it has stood for one year, the commission has the right to abolish the list and hold another examination. Accordingly, the practical questions section of the exami- nation must relate in a very general way to the requirements of the rank involved, for it is not known in what branch of the service the applicant will be emplo3'ed. There is no opportunity, therefore, to weigh the specific needs of a given post of duty and pick a man then and there to fill it. This prevents the promotion of men within a single branch of specialized work, as in the vice bureau, detective bureau, or trafl&c squad. If, for example, it were determined that an additional captain of detec- tives was needed, the place would have to be filled either by transferring some captain from another branch of the service or by taking a man from [38] the list of lieutenants eligible for promotion to the rank of captain. If a lieutenant of detectives does not happen to be in one, two, or three order on the list, then there is no opportunity to promote a man with detective experience. Most of the captains recently assigned to commands in the detective bureau have been taken directly from commands of the uni- formed patrol service. Some had never had any detective experience. The same would be true in making a promotion in any other branch of specialized work. Perhaps the most serious objection to the present methods of making promotions is that the choosing of men to fill the higher posts is so far removed from the directing head of police operations. An independent body determines who the subordinate leaders of police business shall be after tests which, as has been shown, do not consider the more important personal attributes with which only the police administrators alone can be acquainted. Actual choice, with a range of one out of three eligibles, is left to the director of public safety. The chief of police, acting as the administrative head of the department, has nothing to say about it ex- cept in cases where there is such happy accord between the director and chief that the director may ask the chief for his recommendations of choice. The net result is that there is no one exercising the practical police point of view in looking out for evidences of ability in individuals who indicate fitness for promotion to particular posts of duty. Where the administrative head has no concern about naming the men who shall be promoted, he will spend no time in making appraisals. He will simply take the men who are given him by the civil service commission and do the best he can. This situation relieves the head of the department of what should be one of the most important of his tasks, if not the most important, namely, the intimate supervision of the work of his subordinates with a view to developing the maximum use of whatever special abilities may be dis- covered in them. Stephen O'Meara, who for many years served creditably as police commissioner of Boston, defined the situation as follows: "No written examination can possibly disclose the qualities and habits which are of vital importance in a police officer of rank and can be known only to his superiors. Among them are judgment, coolness, moral as well as physical courage, executive ability, capacity for the command of men, sobriety, and other moral qualities, standing among his associates and in the com- munity, powers of initiative, temper, integrity, energy, courtesy."^ * From a private memorandum. [39] Theodore Roosevelt, in his Autobiography, expressed himself in similar vein. "I absolutely split off from the bulk of my professional civil ser- vice reform friends when they advocated written competitive examina- tions for promotion. In the police department I found these examina- tions a serious handicap in the way of getting the best men promoted, and never in any office did I find that the written competitive promotion examination did any good. The reason for a written competitive en- trance examination is that it is impossible for the head of the office, or the candidate's prospective immediate superior, himself to know the average candidate or to test his ability. But when once in office, the best way to test any man's ability is by long experience in seeing him actually at work. His promotion should depend upon the judgment formed of him by his superiors."' Recommendations It is recommended, therefore, that the matter of promotions be put squarely up to the director of police. He should be enabled to make use of the civil service commission as a staff or agency equipped to make cer- tain limited measurements. But he should be allowed to place his own valuations on the tests made by the commission and make any other tests he may see fit in order to arrive at his decisions regarding promo- tions. Under such an arrangement the civil service commission might be asked to conduct examinations which would really amount to qualify- ing examinations based on certain minimum qualification standards. The police head could then add to these results the estimates of a can- didate's worth, based on lines not covered by the civil service ejfamina- tion. It is further recommended that there be established a board, to be known as a board of promotion, consisting of three to five members of the higher ranks in the department. It should be the duty of this board to make recommendations for promotion to the director of police after thorough investigation and examination or series of examinations as may seem necessary. The members of this board should be designated by the administrative head of the department to serve in such capacity at his pleasure. We do not wish to recommend in too specific detail what the composition of this board should be. If the principle be estabUshed, there may be many modifications in a scheme designed to carry it out. It is suggested, however, that in addition to the chief line officer of the uniformed force the head of the police training school, as the depart- ^ Autobiography, p. 161. 140] merit's specialist in matters of personnel, be included in the membership of the board. Of course, it would be necessary to have the board com- posed only of members having a rank always equal to and generally higher than the rank to which promotion is to be considered. In the case of promotions in the detective service, the chief of detectives and possibly another detective officer should be included in the board's mem- bership. For promotions to posts in the patrol service, officers of the uniformed force should be substituted for the detective officers. Similar substitutions should be made in designating the board's membership when considering promotion to other special branches of the service. Preliminary to the examination made by the board of promotion, commanding officers of the various units in the department should be required to submit names of such members of their commands as are deemed worthy of consideration for promotion. These recommendations, together with such efficiency records of the candidates as may be avail- able, should be reviewed by the board of promotions. Provision should be made for allowing any member of an eligible rank who may not be endorsed by his commanding officer to make application to the board to have his name considered for promotion. The board could establish weights for seniority and prepare a schedule of merits and demerits to apply in making its recommendations. There are no measurements now used by the civil service which could not be used by a board of promo- tion, but the board of promotion can employ measurements that arc not and cannot be employed by an outside civil service commission. Recommendations for promotion should be delivered by the board to the administrative head of the department, who should have unre- stricted authority to accept or reject the board's recommendations. We submit that the establishment of a board of promotion, composed of members of the professional force, whose duty it is to pass judgment on the quality of men as policemen and the quality of their work, will accomplish four highly desirable results : First, such a scheme would in- troduce expert appraisal of fitness for work with which the appraisers are themselves thoroughly familiar. Secondly, it would tend to stimulate a feeling of self-reliance in the police personnel and imbue the higher officers with a heightened sense of responsibility for promoting the best interest of their profession. Thirdly, it would be the first step in the direction of setting up machinery which would almost certainly evolve standards and means of measuring the efficiency of policemen. When all members of the force realize that what they do, as observed by their superiors who are competent to judge, alone counts for advancement, there will be a new tone in the whole department. Fourthly, a board of [41] promotion would eliminate favoritism in making choices for promotion perhaps more thoroughly than does the civil service commission. Police- men will be the first to welcome an escape from outside interference. They do not need barriers to keep them from rushing to influences which they know have always worked for demoralization and the disrepute of their activity. They have in the past affected ahgnments with outside political interests only because those interests had connections with elected officers who determined appointments, promotions, and assign- ments to favored posts. But once the whole job of policing is left to the personnel responsible for it, — including, of course, a civihan administra- tive head, — without the introduction of outside connections that make for interference, the professional force will show that it has a natural pride in its work, that it desires a good name and an efficient department, more, indeed, than other persons whose standing and interests do not rise and fall with the standing of the police department. Lest it be thought that this recommendation for a board of promo- tion is of too radical a character, attention is called to the fact that this same system is now and has been for many years in operation in Boston and other American cities, where it has worked with unqualified success. Similarly in London the non-competitive system of promotions is the method in vogue. There the civil service commission enters the situa- tion only upon the invitation of the police commissioner, to assist the department in weeding out men whose lack of education makes them unfit for promotion, and the examination which it gives is merely to test the general educational capacity of the applicant. A second examination in the elements of police dutj% both oral and written, is given by a' board of police officials, and those who emerge from these two tests are eligible to promotion, although the commissioner, of course, makes his own choices from the list. Some such system as this is necessarj-^ if our police departments are to be saved from hfelessness and dry rot. With promotions the result of real excellence in police work under the watchful eye of superiors, much of the present inertia would disappear. 42] CHAPTER VI DISCIPLINE THE term discipline as here used includes both its narrower and broader meanings. Discipline in its narrow sense relates only to punishment administered for some violation of the rules and regu- lations or dereliction of duty. This punishment may take the form of a cancellation of vacation days, suspension without pay, demotion, or dismissal from the department. In its wider meaning the word disci- phne embraces the conduct and bearing of members of the force in the performance of their duty and the manner in which the force responds to the leadership of the various officers in charge of operations. In its wider meaning, therefore, the discipline of a poUce force is of far-reaching significance. The essential basis of all good poUce work is the character and physical power of the individual men. As Ai'thur Woods says: "They must be strong of body, stout of soul — sturd3'-, two-fisted specimens, knowing how to hold themselves in restraint even under severe provocation, yet prompt and powerful to act with force and uncompromising vigor when only that will maintain order and pro- tect the law-abiding." In other words, alertness, keenness, self-re- straint, and vigor are the essential earmarks of a good police force. It would be impossible to claim that these characteristics are par- ticularly noticeable in Cleveland. We have observed a sufficient num- ber of instances of laxity in police work to warrant the general conclu- sion that something is radically wrong with the standard of discipline. No effort was made to spy on the men for the purpose of detecting flaws in their conduct, but many casual observations were made of the men as they went about their work on the streets, in station houses, and at police headquarters. It was not at all uncommon to find two policemen talking together while on post duty, and carrying on long conservations with citizens while on post seems to be a habit. Some conversation with citizens is, of course, necessary, but reference is here made only to those conversations the manner of which clearly showed that the dis- cussion was not confined to lines of police duty. These conversations occurred on posts covering the busiest streets as well as in the more quiet districts. On one occasion the traffic cornerman at the intersection of Superior [431 Avenue, N. E. and the Public Square was off duty from 11 a. m. until some time after 11.15a.m. A gale was blowing at the time, so that there was some danger to pedestrians in crossing the street, as automobiles and street cars were moving without any regulation. During all of this time the patrolman who was on post at the southwest corner of the post-office building was engaged in conversation with a citizen, with his back turned to what really amounted to an emergency situation on the uncovered traffic post a few feet away. Many patrolmen while on post duty were observed leaning against posts or buildings as if too tired to stand erect. The frequency with which needlessly prolonged conversation and other forms of idling occur reflects discredit on the work of patrol sergeants. Either the sergeants are not aware of what constitutes alert patrol, or they are too lenient in their supervision. On the afternoon of February 21 a building in process of demohtion at East Sixth Street and Superior Avenue, N. E., collapsed, killing and injuring several men. A large crowd gathering to view the rescue work necessitated a considerable detail of policemen to keep the crowd back, so as to allow firemen to work and to protect the people against the danger of the unsafe building walls. Crowds were allowed to gather on the sidewalks across Superior Avenue from the building, and no ade- quate measures were taken to keep open passageways on the crossing sidewalks. A patrolman was stationed at the southwest corner of Sixth and Superior. He was watching the firemen at work about the wrecked building with the same sort of preoccupation as that manifested by the crowd blocking the sidewalk. He was not doing as well as the crowd, in fact, for he was chewing tobacco and violating the law lay ex- pectorating continually in the street. A sergeant forced his way through the crowd and instructed this patrolman to clear a passageway. The patrolman made a grimace, as if in disapproval of having his attention called to the fact that he was supposed to be policing the crowd. He started a few citizens moving, but never properly cleared the passageway. At the same place, on the day following, two other pohcemen, one a foot patrolman and the other a horse-mounted man, were observed while they were policing a crowd which had gathered to witness a parade of the Cleveland Grays. Both men were facing the parade, and as the flag- bearers' detachment passed the policemen failed to salute the national emblem, in careless disregard of the instructions covering honors to be rendered by members of the force when in uniform and on duty. One more example of slovenly attitude may be cited. A squad of nine men was observed at the 2.15 p. m. roll call assembly in a precinct station. While the officer who was holding the roll call read the orders [44 1 to this outgoing platoon, three of the men who were chewing tobacco stepped out of their Hne formation in order to expectorate. Another was seen whispering to the man standing in hne beside him as the description of persons wanted and alarms giving information of all kinds was being read by the officer in charge. An attitude of this sort makes a joke of discipline. It makes the uniform a cheap pretense. These instances have not been given in any captious spirit. It is submitted, however, that although these minor derelictions may be small in themselves, the very frequency of careless, slovenly, and inattentive actions indicates a general absence of good discipline. The whole force needs toning up. It needs to be infused with vigor and alertness. The men should be gotten onto their toes. The department's morale should be stiffened with the same spirit that Arthur Woods put into the New York force during his administration. This means discipHne; it means the strict observance of the letter of the department's regulations; it means the exaction of a full measure of compliance with police duty. It brings with it no hardships. On the contrary, it promotes an esprit de corps that makes for the happiness and self-respect of the entire force. Record of Formal Disciplinary Actions An analysis was made of major cases of disciplinary action which had resulted in suspension from duty on the order of the chief of police and subsequent trial by the director of public safety. There were 64 members of the force tried during the year 1920. One member was tried twice during the year and two other members were charged with a second offense within the year and dismissed from the department, having signed after the first trial a resignation to be accepted by the director at his pleasure. Thus, there were 67 offenses subject to the trial judgment of the director committed by 64 persons during 1920. In a number of cases more than one charge was preferred against a single offender. The nature of the charges preferred in the 67 trials is shown in the following tabulation: Intoxication and drinking in uniform 23 Intoxicated while on duty 12 Intoxicated while off duty 8 Drinking in uniform while on duty 3 Neglect of duty (allowing prisoner to escape, not using due diligence, etc., etc.) 9 Off patrol (sleeping, sitting in stores, etc.) 11 Reporting late; failure to ring duty calls, etc. 11 Disobedience 9 Use of indecent language 5 Feigning sickness 3 [45 1 Shooting craps or running crap game 3 Interfering with an officer on duty 2 Miscellaneous 9 Beating horse ; offering to permit the making of whisky in re- turn for payment of money ; refusing to pay street-car fare while not in uniform; abusing pool-room keeper, etc. An examination of the previous record of the 64 men tried in 1920 shows that 25 of them had not been previously charged with offenses. The remaining 39 had been charged at one time or another with 99 offenses, as shown by the following tabulation: Drinking and intoxicated 24 Off post 12 Neglect of duty 11 Late to roll call 10 Failure to ring duty calls 6 Indecent and abusive language 6 Disobedience 5 Failure to report to prosecute 4 Feigning sickness 3 Improper performance of duty 2 Miscellaneous 16 The results of the 67 trials held in 1920 w'ere as follows: two members were reinstated without punishment, being found not guilty; in 38 trials some form of punishment was administered and the members retained in the department. Of the remaining 27 trials, 21 resulted in dismissal from the service of the persons tried, and six members resigned before the date for trial, while charges were pending against them. The nature of the punishment imposed in cases other than cases of dismissal is shown below- Reprimanded, suspended four days, fined ten daj^s' vacation and required to sign a resignation to take effect when ac- cepted by the director 1 Reprimanded, suspended four to thirteen days, fined two to six days' vacation 2 Reprimanded, suspended four to six days' vacation 2 Suspended four to thirty-five daj's, fined four days' vacation to all vacation for a period of five months, and required to sign a resignation to take effect when accepted by the director 10 Suspended three to thirty days, fined one day's vacation to all vacation for nme weeks 17 Suspended five to forty-five days and demoted 2 Suspended nine to fourteen days 2 Fined three days' vacation to vacation for a period of one month, and required to sign a resignation 2 Considering the cases involving a charge of intoxication and drinking in uniform, it is found that out of 23 cases, only four resulted in dis- [461 missal from the department. One resigned while charges were pending; eight received a sentence of suspension from duty for a definite period, fine of days off or vacation, and in addition were required to sign a resig- nation to be made effective at the pleasure of the director. The re- maining 11 were suspended and fined days off or vacation. Since some punishment was levied in all cases, it would appear that proof of the charges was furnished to the director in each case. The record for the first five months of 1921 is much like that of 1920. Intoxication cases from January through May, 1921, numbered 11. The records show that in a majority of the cases the member accused was intoxicated or drinking while on active duty. These 11 trials re- sulted in the dismissal of four members. In the case of one member whose previous record showed charges of intoxication on several occa- sions, the penalty was suspension for five days, fine of two days' pay, and loss of the next four days off duty. In another case charging intoxica- tion and being off post the punishment was suspension for ten days and fine of five days' pay. Intoxication is a very serious offense in police business. A policeman who has possession neither of his wits nor of his self-control is worse than useless. Indeed, it is nothing less than shocking for a policeman, with all the wide powers which his office implies, to be under the influence of liquor. A man who cannot resist the temptation to become intoxicated while on duty is not fit to wear the uniform, however insignificant the offense may appear, or however worthy the man may be for other employment. The London police force long ago adopted the principle of making intoxication while on duty the occasion for immediate dismissal. No excuse is accepted. The same rule could wisely be adopted in Cleveland. Certainly the penalties imposed in Cleveland for intoxication by the civil service commission during 1920 were not sufficient to reduce the rate of offenses in 1921, nor will the punishments imposed in 1921 convey to the members of the force any adequate appreciation of the seriousness of their offense. Appeals The decision of the director of public safety is not final in the event that the member tried desires to appeal his case to the civil service com- mission. No case resulting in a punishment less than dismissal or de- motion was appealed to the commission during 1920. However, in something more than half of the cases resulting in dismissal or demotion such an appeal was taken, and with much success. The civil service commission affirmed the judgment of the director in seven cases, but [471 disaffirmed his ruling in six cases. Four patrolmen who had been dis- missed from the service were reinstated, and two sergeants who had been demoted to the rank of patrolman were restored to the rank of sergeant by order of the civil service commission. A brief resume of the facts pertaining to the cases in which the com- mission disaffirmed the ruling of the director follows: 1. Patrolman was dismissed after trial on the charge of refusing to arrest a woman who, he knew, had stolen a ring and of accepting custody of the ring. This patrolman's previous disciplinary record disclosed that he had been reported some 15 times — late, several times; off post, several times; having debts of long standing, slapping a news- boy, and faiUng in appearance to prosecute. He was reinstated by the civil service commission with a forfeiture of six weeks' salary. In other words, the civil ser\nce commission substituted its own judgment for the judgment of the director of public safety. 2. Patrolman was dismissed after trial on a charge of having visited a known prostitute in a city hospital and interceding with an attending doctor on her behalf while in an intoxicated condition. Previ- ous record shows charges of intoxication and ungentlemanly conduct. The civil service commission reinstated him in the service without penalty. 3. Patrolman was dismissed on a charge of refusing to pay his street-car fare when not in full uniform. Doubtless this charge was viewed in the light of this patrolman's previous record, which follows: charged with undue use of blackjack; feigning sickness; twice failed to report to prosecute; received money for the performance of regular poUce duty; reporting late; making false report; using abusive lan- guage. He was reinstated by the civil service commission. 4. Patrolman was dismissed after trial on a charge of failure to patrol and ring duty calls. His previous record shows: absence from post; late at roll call; feigning sickness; failed to charge another with violation of law; intoxicated; off patrol; failure to ring duty calls; drunk and picking fight; drinking; off patrol. The civil service com- mission reinstated him. 5. Sergeant was suspended for six weeks and demoted to rank of patrolman as a result of charges of disobedience, leaving a post before he should, and failure to prefer charges against a patrolman. Restored by the civil service commission to rank of sergeant. 6. Sergeant was suspended and demoted to ranlv of patrolman following charges of neglect of duty and unnecessary conversation with citizens. Restored by the civil service commission to rank of sergeant. 148] Incidentally, one of the cases above cited affords striking illustration of the present chaotic conditions in the police department due to divided leadership. The chief of police evidently felt that a violation by a superior officer of the department's rule in regard to the holding of unnecessary conversation with a citizen gave evidence of such officer's unfitness to do supervisory work. Accordingly, the chief, in preferring charges, recommended demotion. There was no disputing the technical guilt of the officer, and the director ordered demotion in compHance with the chief's recommendation. However, in deUvering formal notice of judgment the director completely vitiated his attempt to uphold the chief when he stated in the letter which was made public that he did not approve of the judgment which he himself had rendered. The fol- lowing is an extract from the letter: "While there may be some doubt as to whether the mere conversing with citizens for this period of time, when supervising detail policemen, constitutes neglect of duty within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the police department and the city charter, I am satisfied that you were indiscreet in your conduct on this occasion, and I therefore have resolved all doubts against you in the interest of strict discipline in the police department. My finding is that you are guilty of violation of Article 16 of Rule 13, as charged. Such finding is made for disciplinary reasons upon the recommendation of the chief of poHce, although I believe the punishment is severe for the offense committed." It is small wonder that the disciplined member in the case just cited appealed to the civil service commission and that the commission re- versed the judgment of the director when he himself believed it too severe. We have here, therefore, one head of the department deter- mining that satisfactory standards are not being met and demanding a penalty; another head interpreting the issue without having standards of his own; and a third body in no way responsible for administration overruUng both. The record of cases appealed to the civil service commission in 1921 is even worse than that for 1920. At the time the survey tabulation was made, four cases had been appealed to the commission. Three of these cases involved dismissal from the service and one demotion in rank. Two of the dismissed members were reinstated, and the officer demoted was restored to rank by order of the commission. In only one case out of four was the judgment of the director sustained. Obviously, the civil service commission must make its decisions without any thought of the defendant's value as a reliable pohceman. It must confine its considerations, as would a court of law, to the single 5 [49] charge at hand. From the police point of view the specific charge covering an offense may confinn a well-grounded distrust or lack of confidence in a certain policeman; the last charge may be the final proof of unfitness. The civil service commission, however, does not assume the point of view of the police official. Moreover, it brings no responsi- bility for achieving police results into its deliberations and measures offenses by standards which are bound to be more lenient than can rea- sonably be employed in police discipline. It views offenses as mistakes and transgressions that would not be so grave, perhaps, in other lines of work. It often appears to overlook the significance of such offenses in a policeman and the demand of good conduct and right morals which the policeman's peculiar tasks present. So long as the civil service commission in Cleveland is permitted to impose its own standards of personal fitness for police work, good dis- cipline in the department cannot be attained. Neither the chief of police nor the director can do away with the weak links in the department's chain under the present arrangement, whereby final authority in mattere of discipHne is given to an outside body having no connection with police work and no intimate appreciation of its problems. It must be pointed out, moreover, that the difficulty of civil service usurpation extends far beyond the particular cases handled by the com- mission. Efforts on the part of the head of the police department to improve police discipline and standards of conduct are hindered in all of the border-line cases for the simple reason that fear of failure in being supported by the civil sei-vice commission makes for hesitation in ini- tiating disciplinary action and for tolerance of much that it is desired to correct and improve. With the recent year's record of reinstatement of policemen whom the chief and director have adjudged to be unqualified for the performance of satisfactory police work, is it any wonder that the chief is hesitant in taking adequate measures to correct minor evidences of poor discipline? And what is the effect of a ruling by the civil service commission that while a policeman may be guilty of refusing to swear out a warrant as ordered by his superior officer, demotion in rank is too severe a penalty to be imposed? The obvious effect is that those members who are least valuable to the department can snap their fingers in the faces of their superiors and pay only so much allegiance and obedience to them as would be required by the civil service commission. 50 Recommendations The remedy for strengthening the morale and improving the dis- cipHne of the department lies in transferring final authority in matters of discipline from an uninformed, irresponsible, politically appointed civil service commission to a single responsible, expert administrative head of the police force. As far as its disciphnary functions are concerned, the civil service scheme has been fully tried in Cleveland, and we submit that it has been found wanting. It is recommended, therefore, that full powers of disciplinary action be vested in the director of the department of pohce, and that a trial board, composed of officers of the professional force, be designated by the director to try delinquent members and sub- mit findings, with recommendations to him. The director should have the power to accept, reject, or modify the recommendations of the trial board. We recognize that objection will be made in some quarters that if so much power is given to a single police head in matters of promotion and discipline, he will abuse it by interjecting elements of political favoritism, and that giving members of the police force a share in determining these matters is dangerous. This danger is admitted, but we shall never solve the police problem in America until we give honest and effective leader- ship an opportunity to show what it can do. There is no chance for pro- gressive improvement in a police department if the hands of the responsi- ble executive are tied in his dealings with his men. Here again we must turn to Boston for an example of a rational system. As we have seen, complaints against members of the force are heard by a special trial board of three captains appointed by the police commissioner. The commissioner, however, is always supreme. He can at any time change the personnel of the trial board, order a new trial, or set aside the recom- mendations of the board in regard to the punishment to be imposed. His word is final, and from it there is no appeal to a higher civil authority. On no other basis can responsibility be centered and a police force be rid of useless or dishonest employees. To divide responsibility with a civil service commission, a mayor, a court, or any other authority, is to sow the seed of demoralization and to make real success impossible for any administrator, no matter how able. Briefly, we do not believe that large strides in the improvement of the police service can be accomplished in Cleveland under the general assumption that: 1. Cleveland can only have public servants who are politically minded and whose natural dishonesty must be checked and guarded against at all times. [511 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. 52 CHAPTER VII UNIFORM PATROL SERVICE POLICE operations will be discussed under four headings, repre- senting four functions of a police department's work, viz., uniform patrol service, detective bureau operations, special activities, in- cluding 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 com- pletely 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 de- mands made upon the police department. Again, there have been instances of rapid change from good residential districts, with a perma- nent population, to boarding-house and furnished-room districts, ac- commodating 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 resi- dential 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. [53] Not only has the character of districts changed in the past twenty years, but changes in methods of transportation have altered the prob- lem 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 com- mission 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, sanc- tioned by usage and traditions, but with little relation to needs or neigh- borhoods. 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 con- ditions. 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 sj'stem 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 (54] 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 op Policemen Needed Another matter which should be considered under a progressive leadership of the police is the number of policemen necessary for Cleve- land. 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 com- plaints 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- [55] merit discloses that in September, 1920, with a shortage of 198 men, there were 98 robberies committed, as against an average of 55 for Sep- tember 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 poUce 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 nearty 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 pohce 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 pro- tection. That more policemen will mean an improvement in crime con- ditions 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) [56] by reducing the number of daily assignments in the horse-mounted sec- tion of the traffic division; (3) by employing some of the men in a special service or crime prevention bureau. Whether these measures, which are discussed in later sections of the report, will of themselves, without adding to the force, achieve the desired results in reducing the volume of crime, is a question which only experience can solve. Methods of Patrol At the present time regular patrol work is done on foot. The men who are equipped with horses confine their attention almost entirely to the regulation of traffic and enforcement of traffic ordinances. Special units, known as reserve squadrons, consisting of a sergeant and three uniformed men, are attached to nine of the 15 precincts. These squad- rons operate in what are called, in newspaper fashion, ''high-powered automobiles." They are held in reserve at precinct station houses during the day to answer emergency alarms, but at night are used in a limited way for general circulating patrol. The results achieved by the squadrons in 1920 point clearly to the value of extending the use of motor equipment for doing regular patrol work, thereby replacing many foot patrolmen. In the sections of out- lying residential districts which have good paving, motor patrol service can take the place of foot patrolmen entirely. In congested districts, however, where large numbers of people are passing on the street, it will, of course, be necessary to have patrolmen doing duty on foot and cover- ing comparatively small beats, so that they can keep their posts con- stantly under eye. The use of automobiles for patroling the streets is in line with the best development in police work. New York, Kansas City, Detroit, and many other cities have adopted the idea, with marked success. In April of 1918 the Detroit department placed over 150 Ford automobiles on the streets to patrol beats formerly covered by foot patrolmen. Each machine carries two policemen — one in plain clothes and one in uniform. During the first month of the operation of these machines felony com- plaints were reduced from 654, reported in the previous month, to 528; in the second month there was a further decrease of 65 felony complaints over the previous month. "The innovation of the automobile as a preventive [of crime] has proven a great success," said an official of the Detroit department, "for two men can now do the work that formerly took four or five, and are able to do any kind of work with more success in residential districts than officers on foot." Similarly other cities, such as St. Louis, Seattle, Los Angeles, and 157] Louisville, are making small beginnings in the use of automobiles for patroling beats. The hesitation of many departments in taking up the automobile for patrol purposes is due to the expense involved in the initial outla}' and maintenance charges. On the other hand, if two men equipped with an automobile can do the work of five, or perhaps eight, men on foot, a reduction in the patrol force is possible, and the saving in salaries would more than offset the cost of providing the necessary motor equipment. The motor equipment to be used in patrol work should consist in medium-sized passenger automobiles of good quality, with periiaps a few of the smaller and cheaper cars and motor-cycles equipped with side cars. The number of men attached to a car or motor-cycle need not exceed two; they may both be uniformed, or one uniformed and one in citizen's dress. There is no work performed in the non-congested areas by patrolmen on foot which cannot be carried on in an automobile or motor-cycle. When the need for a close investigation is seen, the pa- trolman simply stops his vehicle and proceeds to do his work as formerly. On the other hand, much work that can be carried on successfully by using a vehicle cannot be done by the foot patrolman. There are many positive advantages to be secured from motorized patrol service. In the first place, a patrolman riding an automobile or motor-cycle can cover from 12 to 15 times as much ground as a man on foot. Realization of this advantage can be measured in one of two ways — either by reduction of the number of men employed in patrol or in making more frequent observation of a given territorJ^ On the present basis of the distribution of patrolmen it would be possible to cover more territory with even fewer men. Again, patrolmen riding in cars can carry considerable equipment, often urgently needed by them, but which it is not possible for a foot man to carrj'. Police cars should include, as their equipment, lanterns and other bracket materials for safeguarding dangerous places, fire extinguisher for use on grass fires, towing rope, heavy firearms, and a first-aid kit. These cars can at once be converted into emergency ambulances if an occasion demands, or they may serve the purpose of a patrol wagon in taking prisoners to headquarters or precinct stations, thus cutting down the need for the present number of patrol wagons used. Moreover, the increasing use of automobiles by criminals makes it important that policemen be equally equipped. Observations of sus- pected persons keeping automobiles can be effected from an automobile in a way that cannot be done from on foot. Pursuit of a fleeing auto- [58] mobile may be done only in another car. The greater possibilities of the unsuspected arrival of the police when equipped with an automobile is another advantage in dealing with criminal operations. Finally, the use of motor equipment greatly promotes the physical fitness of policemen in covering large territories. In emergencies they can arrive at the scene of crime, disturbance, or accident more quickly and in better physical shape to do police duty. The protection which an automobile affords in severe weather is another item of great value to be reckoned in preserving the physical efficiency of the men. In this connection attention must be called to an order of the Director of Public Safety, dated March 14, 1921, directing the chief to see that the use of the research squadrons be "limited to the investigation of such cases as are manifestly important." In partial explanation of what would not be "manifestly important," it was ordered that the squads do no work on crap-shooting complaints, street-corner loitering, etc. Quite apart from the fact that the director obviously overstepped his power as laid down by the charter in thus interfering with the functions of the chief, the order itself has little justification, and its results can only be to curtail the effectiveness of motor patrol. By using the squadrons in breaking up crap games and objectionable street loitering the number of serious complaints can undoubtedly be lessened, while the efficiency of the squadrons in important cases of murder or robbery will in no way be decreased. Patrol Booths As an essential part of the system of motor patrol, patrol booths should be erected in the outlying districts of the city. This is a system which has been thoroughly tested in many cities, notably New York and Detroit. The patrol booth is in effect a miniature police station. Its chief advantage lies in the fact that a policeman in a given territory is made immediately available to citizens and headquarters alike. A proper operation of the booth system requires that not less than two men, equipped with motor-cycle or automobile, be attached to a booth at the same time. One man remains at the booth while the other circu- lates through the district, returning periodically to the booth. In case the booth man is absent on an emergency call, the other remains at the booth until his return. By this arrangement a district is given the benefit of patrol — in point of fact the motor-cycle or automobile man gives better patrol service than the foot patrolman, and at the same time a policeman can be had at once in case of need. Citizens naturally have a greater feeling of security in knowing that they can get a policeman immediately than in knowing that a foot patrolman is somewhere in [59] the district and that there is a chance that he is near enough to hear a call for help. Precinct Stations Precinct stations, numbering 15 at the present time, have been de- veloped as necessary means for distributing the patrol force. The dis- tricts served by these stations vary considerably in size, and some, due to topographical peculiarities, are very irregularly laid out. The precinct stations were established to meet the needs of the old tj'pe of patrol. When men are sent out on foot to cover theii* beats, it is, of course, necessary to assemble them by groups at a point near where they are to patrol. As the city grew in size it became impossible to send men from headquarters to the outlying beats, hence the need for precinct stations. This need can be reckoned in terms of yards and miles from the station house to the farthest removed post, and the time required to cover this distance. Obviously, when men proceed from the station to their beats in automobiles or motor-cycles, not as many sta- tions will be required as under the present system of foot patrol. It seems probable that, upon the introduction of motorized patrol, precinct lines could be reestablished, so as to reduce the number of precincts from 15 to seven or eight, allowing two on the West Side and five or six in the eastern portion of the city. This calculation is but roughly made. It is based on the following suggestions for consolida- tions: combining the First, Second, and Third Precincts and the westerly tip of the Fourth into one precinct that will be housed in a new headquarters building; combining parts of the Fourth, Thirteenth, and Eleventh, to form a single precinct; providing one or possibly two stations to accommodate the needs of the southwest section of the city, beyond the limits of the Fifth and Sixth Precincts. One station should suffice for that territory lying north and east of Wade and Rockefeller Parks, since there is no chance for extension on the north, and any an- nexations on the east would present a new situation entirely, requiring complete rearrangement of station faciUties. These suggestions would need further study, but they afford an illustration, at least, of the possi- bility of consolidation as a result of motorized patrol. Combinations such as those suggested above will not only increase the efficiency of the force but will lessen the cost of police administra- tion. Every precinct means additional overhead, both in record keeping and supervision. By combining two or more precincts into one this overhead can be reduced, thereby saving in expense and contributing to a greater uniformity in police practice. Officers now performing duplicate tasks of supervision could be freed for more productive work [60] in other special divisions of the department. An examination of the station records and reports in the Tenth and Twelfth Precincts showed that there is a very small volume of work, and yet a full complement of officers is required to supervise approximately 35 men in each of these precincts. Seventy men, or even as many as 125, distributed over four platoons, can easily be managed in a single command and the clerical duties incident to the work of such a number of men can well be handled without addition to the number of men employed in clerical work in a single precinct. On the whole, discipline is likely to be better under the business-like aspects of a large unit than in the home-like atmosphere of small, quiet precincts. Again, emphasis must be laid on the fact that these improvements and others of a similar nature can come only as the result of a sustained, intelligent leadership of the police. They cannot be successfully in- stalled by law or ordinance, or by any other legislative short-cut. They must be thoughtfully matured over a period of years. They must be the result of careful planning, of fearless initiative, and wise guidance. This means a leadership of brains, free from unwarranted interference. More than anything else the Cleveland force needs such leadership today. Recommendations The patrol service should be reorganized so as to accommodate the changes which the use of motor equipment demands. It is recommended, therefore, that — (1) Motor equipment be used in regular patrol work. (2) Patrol booths be established. (3) Police precincts be consolidated so as to reduce the number from 15 to seven or eight. (4) Patrol beats be rearranged. 61 CHAPTER VIII THE DETECTIVE BUREAU THE detective bureau is the second major division of the police organization. It is a bureau of specialized operations, involving not only the solution of crimes which have occurred despite the preventive efforts of all other divisions, but the apprehension of the perpetrators who have escaped after the commission of crime. Work on the solution of murder and manslaughter cases requires considerable time, but the investigation of complaints involving loss of property is by far the largest part of the detective bureau's work. These complaints include robbery, burglary, housebreaking, grand larceny, frauds, and swindles. The bureau is commanded by a deputy inspector of police, who is detailed by the chief of police to serve as inspector of detectives. Simi- larly, he may be transferred from the detective bureau at the pleasure of the chief. Two captains of police are detailed to serve as captains of detectives, assisting the inspector in command. These commanding officers are generally drawn from commands of the uniformed patrol force, instead of being taken from the detective bureau membership. The present inspector of detectives served as a captain in command of the Third Police Precinct prior to being detailed to head the detective bureau. However, he had had some previous experience in detective work as a member of the old detective bureau. One of the two captains of detectives was previously in command of a precinct station, and lat^r had charge of the police training school, from which he was transferred to the detective service. The other captain was originally a patrolman detailed to the detective bureau. Upon receiving his promotion to the rank of sergeant, he was transferred from the detective service to a pre- cinct to supervise uniformed patrolmen, afterward going to the traffic division. Upon being promoted to the rank of lieutenant he was trans- ferred to desk duty in a precinct. Later he was promoted to the rank of captain and placed in command of a precinct station. From this post he was transferred to the detective bureau. From records of this sort it is easy to see that no attempt is made to develop detective commanders from detective personnel. The de- [621 tective bureau in Cleveland is directed by men who have had no ade- quate training in the detective business, and whose promotion to leader- ship depended, in the first instance, on attaining a certain rank, and only secondarily on experience and fitness. Under the present system, if a patrolman, serving as a detective, obtains promotion to the rank of sergeant, he must leave detective work and take up uniformed patrol supervision merely because there is no rank of sergeant in the detective bureau. He must then continue in the uniformed patrol or trafl&c ser- vice until he has attained the rank of captain before he again becomes eligible for transfer to the detective service. The detectives who do not ascend through the uniformed ranks of sergeant and lieutenant to captain are barred from attaining a post of command in the detec- tive bureau. There are 81 patrolmen detailed to the detective bureau at the present time. They are assigned to various duties as follows: 4 assigned to desk duty 5 to office duty — clerical work 5 to the automobile squad 4 to the bureau of criminal identification 3 to the taxicab quad 2 to the pawnshop squad 1 to apartment house detail 1 to the hotel detail 1 to the bank detail 1 to the rooming-house detail 50 on general assignments Of the 50 general men, five are carried on the detective bureau roll, but assigned outside of the bureau as follows : one as a clerk in the chief's office, one to the law department for investigation of civil action cases involving possible damages to the city, one in charge of the department's telephone exchange, one as a clerk in the office of director of public safety, and one to the mayor's office, serving as the mayor's bodyguard. These men are not doing detective work and there is no justification for carrying them as detectives. All detectives are taken from the rank of patrolmen in the uniformed force. Detectives who have served in the bureau for ten years or more are paid a salary of $2,406.80, which is slightly more than the salary paid to lieutenants of police in the uniformed force; those with less than ten years' service to their credit receive S2,288, which is the same as the salary of a uniformed lieutenant. Detectives are selected by the chief of police. Whether he is permitted to exercise his own judg- ment without influence of any sort depends on the mayor and director. 163] Detectives may be returned to duty in the uniformed force in the discre- tion of the chief of pohce and by his order. The privilege, however, is rarely used. The detective assignment is considered as a promotion, and loss of the assignment occurs only in such extreme cases as would result in demotion in rank in the uniformed force as a result of charges of incompetency. Poor Quality of Detectives The detective personnel is supposed to be the "cream" of the uni- formed patrol force. The superior type of work demanded of detectives and the greater compensation which they receive would seem to require that they be the ablest patrolmen in the service. We doubt the truth of the presumption that the detective personnel in Cleveland is entitled to rank as a group having superior abilities. In the first place, there appears to be no adequate provision for selecting detectives on the basis of proved worth in doing the type of work required. No particular standards are followed. Not infrequently policemen are detailed to the detective bureau in recognition of daring and as a reward for the per- formance of some unusually good bit of work in the uniformed force, such as making an arrest at the scene of a major crime. Daring and quick wit are valuable assets to the detective, but their display in a single case does not warrant the conclusion that the men have other qualities of perception and aptitude needed in detective work. The point is that there is no regularly pursued practice of looking out for detective material or of trying men out in an apprenticeship assignment in the detective service. Another consideration on which we base our conclusion that the detective personnel is not of the uniformly high caliber which should characterize a detective force is the low rating of the detective group in the United States Army Alpha Test. It is a singular and significant point that the detectives as a group made a lower average rating in this standard psychological test than any other group in the police service. The range of scores made by 10 different groups is shown in Table 3.^ ' This psychological examination was made in connection with the present sur- vey. The method of marking is as follows: Grade of intelligence Explanation A Ver>' superior intelligence B Superior intelligence C+ High average intelligence C Average intelligence C — Low average intelligence D Inferior intelligence E Ver>' inferior intelligence [64] Approximate mental age, Alpha score years 135-212 105-134 7S-104 45- 74 25- 44 11-13 15- 24 9-10.9 0- 14 Below 9 TABLE 3.— MEDIAN SCORES AND RANGE OF SCORES OF POLICE DIVISIONS Rank or division Median Range of scores of each division Low third Middle third High third Captains 9SC + 50-75 76-104 10.5-154 Lieutenants 95 C + 36-81 82-108 109-165 Sergeants 99 C+ 28-79 79-109 110-166 Vice squad 75C=F 23-61 64- 84 84-134 Detectives 59 C 23-50 51- 71 72-131 Training school 63 C 25-56 57- 74 77-138 Traffic 61 C 5-56 56- 74 75-137 Mounted 78 C+ 22-59 60- 91 92-155 Emergency 67 C 19-64 65- 80 83-150 Patrolmen 67 C 6-52 53- 82 82-170 From this record it is seen that the average of scores made by 63 de- tectives is 8 points below the average of scores made by 759 patrolmen doing duty in uniform, 16 points below the average score of 26 vice bureau operatives who were chosen from the uniformed force in the same way that detectives are, and 36 points below the average made by 46 lieutenants who are rated on approximately the same salary schedule as detectives. Another basis of scoring which shows the number attaining different group ratings is given in Tables 4 and 5. From this tabulation it is seen that no detective was rated in the A group, although all the other classes of the service had some percentage of their membership in this grouping. The percentage of detectives in the B group was less by one-half than that of any other class, and six to seven times smaller than the percentage of lieutenants, sergeants, and vice bureau operatives in the B group. Two detectives were in what is rated as the failure group, with a score of less than 25, while no member of the lieutenants, sergeants, or vice bureau classes fell so low. Of course the Alpha test is not a complete measurement of ability. As has been pointed out, the ratings are useful as measures of general in- telligence, but they do not include measurements of personality and character traits such as initiative, leadership, bravery, honesty, etc. They are measures to indicate the speed and accuracy with which persons are able to deal successfully with new situations and problems. But the comparison, even on this limited basis, is highly significant. 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