The New Police System
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THE NEW POLICE SYSTEM.
The Metropolitan Police Act, an abstract of which appears in another column, is in some respects singularly faulty, though it contains many excellent features.1 It furnishes in some sections apt specimens of the crude, hasty, and bungling manner in which most of the Albany legislation is accomplished.
Section 9 consists of a long and detailed enactment for the suppression of gambling, which has no more business in the police act, than a provision against murder or adultery would have. So with that part of section 21, relating to the sale of liquor on Sundays and election days, a subject which is fully treated in the license law, passed contemporaneously with the police bill.
The only effect of introducing these extraneous matters is to puzzle honest people who want to find out what the law is, and furnish employment to Courts and lawyers at the expense of the community. A man desiring to know what is the law relating to the sale of liquor, ought to be able to find it in the acts passed with the special relation to that subject, without having to read through the laws subsequently passed on every other subject, finding stray fragments of liquor legislations scattered here and there through bills affecting maters of totally different nature.
The provision in section 26, that the annual apportionment for the fiscal purposes of the Board Shall not be legal or binding upon the respective Boards of Supervisors above mentioned, if the appointment of tax made to each county aforesaid shall exceed the sum which shall be necessary to maintain police accommodations, and the police force used and employed within each or either of the said counties, according to action of the Board of Supervisors, nor unless the said apportionment shall be first approved by a majority vote of an auditing committee, composed of the President of the Board of Supervisors in each of the counties embraced by the said "The Metropolitan Police District," and by the Comptrollers of the cities of New York and Brooklyn respectively. Would seem to have been introduced by some crafty opponent of the bill with a view to prevent its harmonious working. It is easy to foresee how the Democratic Auditing Committee and the Republican Police Board will agree to thwart each other. If a Legislator finds that the majority of his fellows are resolved upon the passage of a bill, he should be content with casting his vote against it instead of introducing furtively a clause which will only add to the difficulties of working the scheme, without preventing it from going into effect.
One of the best clauses in the bill is that providing for gradual promotion from the ranks. It is right that those who have borne the burden and heat of the day in the rank and file, and who have profited by their experience, should be advanced, as vacancies occur, to higher and more lucrative posts. In this way the force will be well officered, and emulation will be excited among the mass of the patrolmen.
The abolition of county lines is another praise-worthy feature of the bill. Crime confines itself to no limits. It may centre in the cities, but it overflows through the suburban districts; and the power of the law, opposing, chasing, crushing it, should be freed from topographical restraints and limits.
Another excellent provision is that for the relief of the policemen in penury induced by sickness, accident or superannuation. When a man's best years have been spent in the service of the public, his declining years should not be embittered by the pangs of want. To worthy servants the people should be an indulgent and generous employer.
We do not see so much to complain of in the political complexion of the Board. The Republicans would have been foolish beyond all calculation if they had not put it out of the power of any other party to use the force as an engine against them. They were bound to give their own supporters a majority; and they have done no more. Four Republicans, two Democratic Mayors, and one American, comprise the Board. The Republicans, therefore, hold the balance of power. They may either prostitute that power to the obtaining of political influence, after the manner of Fernando the First2—or they can earn the lasting gratitude of the community, by giving us a really efficient, non-political force. The great danger lies in the high wages of the men. Eight hundred a year will be jumped at by the rowdies, and unless the standard of efficiency be strenuously insisted on, the people will get many a bad bargain for their money.
Notes:
1. The Metropolitan Police Act of April 1857 was passed by the New York State Legislature in order to dissolve New York City's Municipal Police and replace them with the State-controlled Metropolitan force, overseen by a board of commissioners. This new force covered the combined areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Westchester County and was considered controversial in scope, with some parties arguing that the Act was unconstitutional. Embedded within the Act was a series of provisions that impacted both the sale of and access to alcohol. [back]
2. Fernando Wood (1812–1881), a Democrat, was mayor of New York City from 1855–1857 and 1860–1861. He was widely regarded as corrupt. During his time at the Brooklyn Daily Times, Whitman penned numerous fiery articles against "King Fernando." [back]