Review: Chicago Police Problems
| Published date | 01 July 1931 |
| Date | 01 July 1931 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X3100400328 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
THE POLICE JOURNAL
law book must be of high authority indeed before such a story, apocryphal or
not, can be told. Archbold is unquestionably an admirable book, admirable
in its lucidity, its comprehensiveness, and above all its orderly arrangement.
No criminal practitioner need in the ordinary way look further. Twenty-eight
editions since 1822 tell their own tale.
The
secret of its success over books
more ambitious is perhaps to be found in
Mr.
Archbold's preface to the first
edition:
'I
have taken infinite pains to simplify my
subject'
and to make the
book ' simple and perspicuous.' As it started, so it remains, incorporating
edition by edition all new statutes and decisions.
CHICAGO
POLICE
PROBLEMS. By the
CITIZENS'
POLICE
COMMITTEE.
(The
University of Chicago Press.) Published March, 1931. Price $3.
IN early April of this year there passed from the public life of Chicago, for
a time at any rate, William Hale Thompson, commonly known as
'Big
Bill.'
For
eight
years'
Big Bill ' dominated the destinies of the civic life of
Chicago, and during this period crime and corruption is reported to have
reached heights hitherto unknown in modern municipal government.
The
accounts published, almost daily, in the Press of ' Gangsters,'
'Racketeers,' corruption amongst the Police Force and the Magistracy,
make incredible
reading-at
times the accounts are so startling that one
wonders if the chaotic state of the administration of that city can be as bad
as made out to be.
Mr.
Anton Cermak has
succeeded'
Big Bill,' and it is difficult to fore-
cast to what extent his rule will mean a change in the conditions of life, and
in particular the Police administration in Chicago.
It
may be possible to
get rid of individual representatives of the reign of corruption,
but
not so
easily of the roots embedded under ground.
To
Police Officers on this side of
the'
pond,'
Chicago
Police
Problems
is indeed a lesson on mal-administration, and the danger that may arise
from the apathy of the citizen to his own interests.
The
names of the Citizens' Police Committee are of sufficient weight
to render this book authoritative.
This
Committee was formed after an
investigation made by the Chicago Crime Commission, with the aid and
co-operation of a former Commissioner,
Mr.
M. J. Hughes. Commissioner
William F. Russell, who resigned in June, 1930, gave his full and cordial
support and co-operation to the Committee,
but
the Committee was not
invited by his successor to continue its work. (See P. J. iv. 60.)
The
Police Force is first shown in its setting as part of the City Govern-
ment.
The
structural organization is then subjected to analysis, and the
influence of major defects portrayed.
There
is a chapter on the rank and file and the control exercised by the
Civil Service system, and all the various units of the Force are carefully
considered.
There
are tables and charts which make the points easy of
comprehension. During the ten-year period from 1920 to 1929 we are told
that there were 2,722 murders and manslaughters committed in Chicago,
and this total excludes homicides due solely to criminal negligence. A
conservative analysis conducted by the Committee shows a total of 257
murders as the direct result of gang competition for the seven years up to 1929.
The
total strength of the Force is
just
above 6,500,
out
of which the
detective division absorbs 871, and the traffic division 342.
The
selection
of recruits and promotion is largely in the hands of the Civil Service Com-
mission, which is the real power in the management of police personnel.
The
Commission also has considerable authority over the personnel of the
municipal government and is said to be dominated by political influences.
To continue reading
Request your trial