An Instructive Address to the Assistant Buyers Club
By Inspector Joseph H. Itzel
December, 1944
A particularly instructive and factual address carrying many little
known facts having to do with the activities of the Baltimore Police
Department was delivered on November 30 by Inspector Joseph
H. Itzel before the Assistant Buyers Club. A digest of his remarks
is given herewith
It is a privilege and pleasure indeed to address the members and friends of the Assistant Buyers
Club of Baltimore's Retail Stores, in representing your law enforcement agency. In these critical days when the question of
law enforcement on the home front is of such major importance, may I take this opportunity to thank you and express my appreciation
for the spirit of friendship, cooperation and your interest in your Police Force. We hope you will know us better and become
more intimately acquainted with our problems and activities. While it has not been my good fortune to meet you all personally,
nevertheless I do feel intimately associated with you through my acquaintance and friendship with my good friend Mr. James
P. Burnside, your president.
The Police Force is maintained by municipal funds and under the control of the State. This system
is in force in only three of the ten largest cities in the country-Boston, St. Louis and Baltimore.
The first (non-paid) "VOLUNTEER CONSTABULARY" of Baltimore was created in 1729, the citizens having been driven to this exigency by the alarming depredations of
a swelling lawless element.
The first "SALARIED WATCH AND PATROL" was created by the Maryland Legislature in 1784.
From 1784 to 1860 the Force had been under the control of local officials. In 1860 the Legislature
enacted a law placing the department under State control.
Today, for the first time, we have a man from the ranks-Honorable Hamilton R. Atkinson, a former
Police Inspector. You must remember that police work today covers a broad field of highly specialized pursuits, and to direct
as a Police Commissioner must, he must understand them. He must have special qualifications. He must have developed a broad
concept of police work, must have administrative ability, foresight, integrity and physical vigor, professional training and
show leadership over a large group of subordinates.
The Commissioner has demonstrated successfully this responsibility. It is impossible to encompass
within the scope of this summary all of his achievements since taking over command of the Police Department fifteen months
ago.
Reference, however, is made to several outstanding improvements which are characteristic of
Commissioner Atkinson's administration.
JUVENILE PROTECTIVE BUREAU
On January 17, 1944, the Commissioner established the Juvenile Protective Bureau for the
purpose of attempting to curb juvenile delinquency and to exert a measure of protective influence in preventing delinquents
acquiring court records. Through its instrumentality the juvenile case is placed in the proper channel for adjustment when
necessary and both child and parent are counseled along corrective lines to prevent repetition of the
complaint.
The following is a breakdown of cases showing the activities of the Juvenile Protective Bureau
from the Bureau's inception to September 30, 1944:
Involving adults ………………….....14
White Males ..………………….. ..428
White Females…………………….80
Colored Males………………….. .301
Colored Females...........................166
Total….............................................989
Under 10 years…………………...256
10 to 15 yrs. Inclusive……………686
16 to 20 yrs. Inclusive……………..33
Adults……………………………....14
Total……………………………….989
During 1943 throughout this nation 3,785 serious crimes were committed each day-this meant
that one out of every twenty-one American homes was a victim of the crime toll. But tragic as that is, it is not our greatest
tragedy. The real tragedy in these figures is found in the rising number of youthful offenders. Arrests
of boys under seventeen years of age have increased thirty per cent since the outbreak of the war. All of our war casualties are plainly not battle casualties.
The most positive view is, that we should quit trying to cure juvenile, delinquency by
correction and begin curing it by prevention.
Prevention means giving a juvenile wholesome things with which to occupy his or her time.
The seriousness of the problem of juvenile delinquency is more clearly seen when it is
noted that compared with arrests in 1941, the figures for 1943 throughout the United States show that arrests of girls under
21 years of age increased 130.4 per cent. Juvenile delinquents have created the greatest problem. In 1943
over two thousand persons. under seventeen years of age were sentenced in this nation and the greatest part of these were
boys. These figures indicate that the factors contributing to delinquency are still very powerful and point to the need for
each community to intensify its efforts to stop the rising tide of delinquency and juvenile crime. All of the constructive
influence which an aroused community can provide are urgently needed to combat this menace to our internal
strength.
Youth today is seeking sympathetic response, recognition, security and new experiences. Any
worthwhile youth program cannot overlook the fundamental human desires, for our failure to satisfy all or any of them is a
barrier to the development of good citizens.
Young people know what they like and the great majority of them adhere to decent things.
We must strengthen the "HOME" in every way possible for the primary
responsibility for the care and protection of our boys and girls and this must rest within its four walls.
Youth is our greatest national asset. We dare not waste it. The watchword should be that
of ALERTNESS AND CONTINUOUS UNITY OF ACTION
Too many American communities and fathers and mothers are trying to blame the war for
the prevailing, growing and menacing wave of juvenile delinquency. Parents concentrate altogether too much energy and thought
on making money. They have no time for their children and little influence over them. It is adults who raise or lower moral
standards-children merely reflect the change. After the war all that can be shown for the big pay checks will be a wrecked
home. Sympathetic understanding of the problems confronting these children is necessary. This protective
element is paramount in our Juvenile Protective Bureau. Our mission will be fulfilled. No father or, mother has
a right to evade their responsibilities.
This department is keenly aware of the great responsibility which, by law, rests upon it to
protect from harm the lives, liberty and property, day and night, of more than one million persons in their homes and their
livelihood. We are severely taxed with many burdens, and one of the principal problems is crime. In the face of a considerable
influx of people and an acute housing shortage, it would seem to be especially gratifying, and indeed, incredible that decrease
of 8.09% (796 cases) serious crimes were reported in 1943
as compared with 1942. Arrests in 1943 show a percentage of 50.8%.
I respectfully submit statistics of serious offenses reported in 1943 as compared with the number
in 1942.
Offense
1942 1943
Aggravated assault…… 165
179
Manslaughter………… ... 8 6
Murder………………… 108 96
Rape…………………… 79
95
Carnal knowledge……...13
14
Larceny……………...6,505
5,314
False pretense……..... 339
325
Embezzlement…………72 46
Robbery………………588 682
Burglary……………..1,898 2,225
Forgery………………....62 59
RADIO CARS IN 1943
The radio cars (patrol service) covered 2,479,106 miles during the year and responded to 112,558
calls, as compared with 118,454 in 1942. Members of this division made 10,356 arrests for various offenses including 19 murder;
1,308 for common assault; 153 for assault and cutting; 84 for assault and shooting; 18 for assaulting officers in the performance
of duty; 155 burglars; 5,468 cases involving breach of peace; 130 for carrying deadly weapons; 440 for larceny; 106 drunken
drivers and 25 for purse snatching.
The cars responded to 4,415 accident calls, 3,230 alarms of fire, recovered 386 stolen
automobiles and 62 bicycles; removed 454 persons to hospitals and rendered first aid to 25 victims of
gas and other poisons.
BOY’S CLUBS
On June 22d, 1944, one of the achievements of our Police Commissioner Hamilton R. Atkinson,
as the dedication of the first Police Boys' Club at the Southwestern Police Station. Some 425 youngsters ranging from 8 to
18 years of age had signed up for
membership when the new clubrooms were opened by the Police Commissioner, State and City
officials. The club is open five days a week from 4 to 9 p.m. The membership is divided into groups competing
against one another in athletic contests. They have a program of self-government and select their own representatives to enforce
the club rules. There is a library, a completely equipped machine shop for woodwork with metal work equipment to follow.
Another club is now being established in the Eastern Police Station.
AUXILIARY POLICE
In December 1941, our Police Commissioner organized an "Auxiliary Police Force,"
a unit of Civilian Defense Organization, which now has a membership
of approximately two .thousand white and colored persons, whose services are on a strictly voluntary basis
without remuneration of any character. These men are selected from owners of big business and executives-men in all walks
of life including laborers. They provide at their own expense, uniforms and patrol box keys, and the department
furnishes badges, whistles and night sticks. They receive ten hours training in first-aid, two hours instructions in handling
of bombs, and at least six hours instruction in police work, during which period they are assigned to
work with the regular uniformed patrolmen. They are required to report to various districts and to perform two hours actual
police duty assigned them by our District Captains.
The purpose which the Auxiliary Police is serving and the manner in which its members have discharged
its duties are worthy of the highest commendation, for it has been a most effective instrument in aiding in the preservation
of law and order. Cooperation between this organization and the regular uniform force are. Basis for the progress made in
combating crime.
CONCLUSION
The Police Department is the symbol of civil protection .. People instinctively look to
the police whenever danger threatens. Modern warfare puts the civilian population in the front line of battle. We know that
for our soldiers to win the war on the battle front we must win it on the home front with your police force. The citizens
of Baltimore regard the Police Department as their first and most important line of defense against all forms of criminal
aggression. Today, crime solution is a science and covers a broad field of highly specialized pursuits; we assume these exacting
duties with unfailing tact, keen acumen and comprehensive ability. More and more, our profession is becoming the survival
of the fittest in which the man who was farsighted yesterday and who remains farsighted today, who is keen of intelligence,
who is proud of his job, proud of his honesty, proud of the integrity of his fellow-workers, proud of
his standing as a man of substance in his community, has succeeded to the satisfaction of all. But the person who hangs on
to his job merely because it is a job, either is fading out of the picture or is doomed to do so. There
is no place in law enforcement for this kind.
We are proud to be members of your law enforcement agency, your Police Force. When people are
guilty of offenses against society, we prove them guilty, if we can. But for everyone proven guilty, we prove many more innocent.
We can be proud to live in a city where this is the chief aim of the law. Certainly, a sense of security and comfort must
accompany this program. We ask your full and cordial support-We enjoy public confidence.
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