Policeman

“ Just at that moment up comes the policeman—the London policeman, whose chief occupation seems to be to watch men and women when they stop in the streets for a talk, and to keep out of the way when he is wanted to prop up the inebriate, or to lay hold of a pickpocket, or a burglar, or a rough. ”

“ Glance along the street, pass the policeman on the corner—the fat policeman, for whose sake we will hope all thieves are slow of foot—down past other corners and other fat policemen, down almost to the river, so near that the smell of the water poisons the air. ”

“ He watched the policeman, too, out of the corner of his eye, longing to be done with the whole business.
“That policeman is a tremendous fellow,” he thought to himself. “I have never seen a constable so large, so stalwart. He must be the policeman of the district”⁠—whatever that might mean⁠—“a veritable wall and tower of defence.” The helmet made him think of a battering ram, and the buttons on his overcoat of the muzzles of guns. ”

“ Policeman. Get away, you loafer! The man’ll fall on your head and then your mother and father will be making a hullabaloo about it.
Boy. Will he fall here?
Policeman. Yes, here.
Boy. Suppose he drops farther?
Second Policeman. The boy is right. He may get desperate and jump, land beyond the rope and hit some people in the crowd. I guess he weighs at least about two hundred pounds.
First Policeman. Move on, move on, you! Where are you going? Is that your daughter, lady? Please take her away! The young man will soon fall. ”

“ Yonder policeman at the corner looks big and formidable: he protects the women and overawes the boys. But away in some corner of the City Hill there is some quiet man, out of uniform, perhaps a consumptive or a dyspeptic or a cripple, who can overawe the burliest policeman by his authority as city marshal or as mayor. ”

“ I. THE POLICEMAN
1. Stories of police heroism.
2. What the policeman does for us: Protects our homes; sends in alarm in case of fire; keeps watch while we are away, etc. Protects us on the streets by reporting cave-ins and putting up warning signals, etc. Protects us at street crossings from horses, automobiles, cars, etc.
3. How we may aid the policeman.
Note.—Relate this topic to Obedience, Helpfulness, Care of property, Respect, Self-control, Courage, Fair Play, Safety.
[Pg 255]
II. THE FIREMAN
1. ”

“ We are coming to understand that the policeman can be a social agent, a next friend, an instructor in obedience to the law. We are beginning to regard as the best officer the one who makes the fewest, not the most arrests. In some cities women [Pg 23] are being added to the police force, and there are police matrons, and jail matrons, and even women judges. ”

“ Policeman, there he is, the adulterer, the murderer, the coveter of his neighbor’s ass—
Policeman. Excuse me, excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. We will bring him to his senses in short order and make him confess.
Hotel Keeper. I can’t make him fall if he doesn’t want to.
Policeman. Hey, you, young man out there! Can you fall or can’t you? Confess!
Unknown Man (sullenly) . I don’t want to fall!
Voices. Aha, he has confessed. What a scoundrel!
Tall Tourist. ”

“ The policeman must be in a new sense a private detective; and shadow him in private affairs rather than in public affairs. A policeman must shut doors behind him for fear he should sneeze, or shove pillows under him for fear he should snore. ”

“ To the mountain mind the policeman becomes the embodiment of a righteously executed law. At home, their only constable was one of the most respected men in the community. Isaac argued from experience—and how else should he? This was his syllogism:
A policeman is the most respectable of men in my town. ”

“ Police work is different. In stories and these fool plays any half-witted policeman could pick the criminal in the first chapter. You know all the characters; you're introduced to 'em, their peculiarities are described, and the more innocent they look the more guilty they are. But police work! You drag a man out of the river—no papers, no means of identity, laundry mark on his linen—and that's all. ”

“ You may, in fact, observe that nobody is quite at ease in dealing with a policeman: the man represents, however genially, with howsoever bright adornments of figured brass and rubicundity, an oppression that is upon us; and while in theory the relation between the legally honest tax-payer and his two hired and liveried retainers, the policeman and the mail-carrier, is the same, one notes in practise a marked difference. ”

“ The English police, taken as a whole, is unquestionably the most efficient and best disciplined in the world. A policeman's authority is never questioned in England and his raised hand is a signal that never goes unheeded. ”

“ For they'd none of 'em be missed—they'd none of 'em be missed!
THE POLICEMAN'S LOT.
When a felon's not engaged in his employment
Or maturing his felonious little plans.
His capacity for innocent enjoyment,
Is just as great as any honest man's
Our feelings we with difficulty smother
When constabulary duty's to be done:
Ah, take one consideration with another,
A policeman's lot is not a happy one! ”

“ The policeman, like any civilian, fights for his skin; he gets a drubbing and returns it with interest. But since his weapon does not give him so manifest an advantage as a sword would, the public consider the fracas a fair fight. And after all, the combatants must appear before a magistrate; in the police-court they are on equal terms, and witnesses are heard on either side. There is no prejudice in favour of the policeman. ”

“ Who is it that knows where the nearest chemist's is? The policeman. Who, when we are in danger of being run over if we cross the road, lifts a hand like a York ham and cleaves a path for us? The policeman. At night, when we have lost the latch-key, who is it that effects an entrance (I borrow his own terminology) through a window? The policeman. The tale of his benefactions is endless.
Two American girls recently in London spent much of their time in pretending to an ignorance [Pg 319] of the city, entirely (they confessed) in order to experience the delight of conversing with constables ”

“ ALF GAVE HIS ASSAILANT A BLOW, WHICH SENT HIM REELING.
“Give over, I tell you,” said the policeman. “You are causing an obstruction, and I shall have to take you into custody.”
“He’s not doing any harm, Mr. Policeman,” said one of his pals; “he’s only doing it for a wager—​let him alone.”
“Don’t mind what the bobby says,” called out a voice from the crowd; “he daren’t do anything. A gentleman has a right to amuse himself after his own fashion.”
The constable stooped down, caught the offending party round the shoulders, and lifted him on his legs. ”

“ As a body, the policemen are efficient and well drilled, courteous and affable. At night, the policeman is furnished with a lantern, which he places exactly in the centre of the street, while he sits in a doorway on the opposite corner, and snoozes at intervals in his sarape, or blanket-shawl. ”

“ Policeman seen to smile to potboy. Public loses interest, and undergoes reaction. Taunts the beadle, in shrill youthful voices, with having boiled a boy; choruses fragments of a popular song to that effect, and importing that the boy was made into soup for the workhouse. Policeman at last finds it necessary to support the law, and seize a vocalist ; who is released upon the flight of the rest, on condition of his getting out of this then, come ! and cutting it—a condition he immediately observes. ”

“ An American policeman, for in stance, is endowed with an authority which he can with impunity use in tyrannous fashion. The English policeman is the servant of the public; is responsible before the public for his acts ”

“ As a rule, a policeman attends pretty strictly to his duty, and few of them mix up with politics any more than they can help. A third rate policeman with a first rate pull may be feared, but he is not respected, and if ever he shows the white feather even his pull will not protect him. ”

“ But when you are on the pavements in the road listen carefully for the tread of the policeman. If he comes among us while we are on the pavements he will kill many of us, for policemen have bigger feet than any other kind of men ”

“ If people quarrel on the street, disturb the peace, or commit other crimes, he interferes and arrests the guilty persons when necessary.
The policeman prevents accidents from fallen wires, holes in the street and pavement, broken store windows, runaways, and other dangers.
The policeman regulates traffic at street corners and busy crossings.
He protects foot-passengers from horses, automobiles, and street-cars. He sees timid people and children safely across the street, and gives information to strangers who are not familiar with the city.
[Pg 127]
The policeman renders first-aid. ”

“ Notwithstanding the spirit of the Chief of Police, or his high ideal of what a police department really stands for, his good aim and end will be miscarried continually by his hirelings, until the required qualifications of a policeman are based upon intelligence, good-will, good morals, good deeds, and not upon the fact that he helped carry his ward. ”

“ The New York policeman, knowing the importance of his safety, and the insignificance of the gangsman's, permits the opposing forces to hammer each other into a certain distaste for battle, and then, when both sides have begun to have enough of it, rushes in himself and clubs everything in sight. ”

“ The intelligent and ambitious policeman would take an early opportunity of upsetting your temper by ordering you to move on, and treading on your heels until you were provoked into obstructing an officer in the discharge of his duty. ”

“ I was looking at the swelling on the leg of that black police-horse last night, and I told him—the policeman, I mean—that a bandage was needed, and just then along came the young woman, riding a small bay at almost a dead run. I thought at first there was work for the policeman to do, but the rider touched her cap as she rushed past, and the officer guessed my thought, for he said: 'No; that ain't no runaway! ”

“ In the largest cities there are about 20 policemen for every 10,000 people, in smaller cities only 10 or 12. Why is this? Is the number of arrests made by a policeman an indication of his efficiency? Scandals are frequent in the police departments of large cities and this is sometimes explained by saying that the police are exposed to more temptations than any other city officials. ”

“ You may depend upon one thing, Richard, had the policeman's object been to take you, he would have done so, not have contented himself with following you about from place to place. Besides when a detective officer is employed to watch a party, he takes care not to allow himself to be seen ”

“ Police as News Gatherers.—As a matter of fact, a paper has comparatively few paid men on its staff, though it has hundreds of non-paid watchers who are just as faithful. The police are the chief of these. As every reporter knows, a policeman is compelled to make to his captain a full and prompt report of every fire, robbery, murder, accident, or mishap involving loss of, or danger to, life or property occurring on his beat. This report is made to the local precinct or station, whence it is telephoned to police headquarters. ”

“ A Policeman accidentally lifts his arm, whereupon about fifty youths scurry like rabbits; in the rush, the Person in search of Sensation is hustled and slightly trampled on. He becomes annoyed, and hits out right and left—eventually striking a Constable in his excitement. ”

“ Now a policeman, whether he be chief or the humblest patrolman, never meets a man or keeps an appointment. He always “connects” with him. And a Central Office man never tells a prisoner he is under arrest. He used to say, “The inspector wants to see you.” Now he says “the captain,” meaning Captain McCluskey, head of the detective bureau, or “the chief,” who is Chief Devery.
Cross, like all new patrolmen, was told that it was his business to find out all about his post. He must know the business and habits of the residents and all manner of things. ”

“ Nor must it be imagined that a policeman who is in charge of a beat can, without manifest neglect of his duty to the householders generally, devote to the shops where the practice in question is followed, the special supervision which seems to be expected from him. ”

“ Our POLICEMAN replaces them in their boxes.)
CINDERELLA. One—two—three . . . couchy!
(They disappear.)
POLICEMAN (awkwardly and trying to hedge) . Of course this is an out-of-the-way little street for a Godmother to find.
CINDERELLA. Yes, I’ve thought of that. I’d best go and hang about outside; she would know me by my dress.
[69]
POLICEMAN (hastily) . I wouldn’t do that. It’s a cold night. (He wanders about the room eyeing her sideways.) Balls is always late things. ”

“ Regular patrol posts are established by the police on the housetops in times of trouble in these localities, but even then they do not escape whole-skinned, if, indeed, with their lives; neither does the gang. The policeman knows of but one cure for the tough, the club, and he lays it on without stint whenever and wherever he has the chance, knowing right well that, if caught at a disadvantage, he will get his outlay back with interest. ”

“ In his "History of the Criminal Law," Sir James Stephen thus explains the position. "The police in their different grades are no doubt officers appointed by law for the purpose of arresting criminals, but they possess for this purpose no powers that are not also possessed by private persons.... A policeman has no other right as to asking questions or compelling the attendance of witnesses than a private person has; in a word, with a few exceptions, he may be described as a person paid to perform as a matter of duty acts, which if he so minded, he might have done voluntarily." ”

“ The police system is excellent, from the reason I am told that they are not appointed by political favor, but are soldiers from the barracks and{197} can be always found. Every street-crossing has a policeman all day and another all night, so during the twenty-four hours there is not a moment when he cannot be found. ”