woman,

One writer has

or even detailed formulation." caught them in a colorful description, "The Police" she says "must walk about the streets where the bright lights, jazz band and the very atmosphere prove to be so alluring to the very young girl. She must watch out for this young girl and apprehend her when she first plays truant from her work or school to go to the moving picture house or dance hall. She must locate the large group of children that are to be seen upon the streets begging, and bring about the social treatment needed with these cases.

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She "must be on duty at night observing upon the streets and in the parks, watching out for the runaway girl, the street-walker, and the commercialized woman [prostitute] who solicits for her trade upon the public streets . . . she must be friendly and helpful to the unfortunate drug fiend and derelict and to the forlorn outcast who walks upon the streets."

It is generally conceded that these are legitimate functions of women police on patrol, as well as others, such as continuous supervision of dance halls and general amusement places including motion pictures and burlesque shows. Each community has its unwholesome and questionable public amusement places, known under a variety of names, and which are susceptible to general supervision by women 5 For description of such activities in Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, D. C., see Chapters VIII and IX. 6Apprehend" is a strong term. with actual practice.

"Counsel" is more in accord

police on patrol. That which actually characterizes the women and men patrol officers among social agents in the field of preventive and protective measures in delinquency, and which is their distinct contribution, is that they are legally charged with the active searching out of conditions which tend to produce juvenile delinquency and those minors who frequent places where these conditions obtain.

They can be of inestimable value to other social agencies whose functions have already been outlined. They can materially assist the work of each if close cooperation is given all along the line. For instance, they can aid the attendance officer in his work with those minors habitually truant from school. They can supervise as no probation or parole officer can do, those probationers who are inclined to frequent questionable public amusement places at night. The visiting teacher may find that one of the great difficulties in the adjustment of a school child lies in the conduct of an older sister or brother over whom she nor any other social agent except the woman police officer has either control or influence.

Most workers in private protective social agencies welcome heartily the presence of women patrol officers for whom they have long felt the need.

Supervision of Public Conduct: There is a marked tendency toward using women patrols to supervise and control the social conduct between the sexes. Their exact relation to problems of public indecency, misdemeanors, such as solicitation, in

public places for the purposes of prostitution, and, the more serious crime of traffic in women and children is as yet undefined.

Their activities in this field require actually so large a proportion of their time, that they deserve special consideration here. This is not the place, however, to attempt to discover why boys and girls of today have markedly free and easy relationships, which are often in bad taste and which, at times, result in open disregard of public decency and in individual unhappiness. Nor is it the place to discuss possible remedies for such conditions. These two subjects must be left to sociologists, educators, philosophers, and social and mental hygienists." The important point here is that a great proportion of the girls under eighteen years of age who are brought before the courts, have had some sex experience a fact which women police are called upon to face and which today forms invariably the prime factor in the demands of women's organizations in any given community for the appointment of women police.

The practical question is how far are women police to go in handling this situation. Shall it be her duty, while on patrol, to interfere actively in the

7 Your Mind and You-Mental Health-George K. Pratt, M.D. (Chaps. 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8), Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1923; 30 cents. The Sex Factor in Human Life, American Social Hygiene Association, 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City, 1921; price $1.25. Mental Hygiene and the College Student, Frankwood E. Williams, M.D.; Paper No. 1. Mental Hygiene. April, 1921; paper No. 2. Mental Hygiene, April, 1925. 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City. Changes in Social Thought and Standards which Affect the Family, Porter R. Lee. Proceedings, Conference of Social Work, 1923.

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public social conduct of young people when they are not actually breaking a law, but when their actions are such as to predicate in her mind, in the near future, delinquency before the law? Both in Great Britain and in the United States the answer has been affirmative. Naturally this is a delicate task and one requiring very special qualities and tact in the woman who undertakes it. To carry it out successfully requires that the community should offer adequate means for wholesome recreation 10 and proper facilities for sex social education in the schools. These constructive measures are absolutely essential in the handling of the situation.

11

Subway Mashers: A second task in this domain which has at times been performed by women police is that of suppressing the activities of "mashers" who operate ordinarily in crowded public conveyances. There is divergence of opinion and feeling both as to the utility and the advisability of assigning women police to this duty. As yet no

8 This raises the question as to whose and what "standards” of conduct are to serve as a basis for action by the woman police officer in any given situation-a question which demands a thorough and impartial discussion. (See footnote 7.)

9 See type of women desirable, Chapter XIII.

10 The Playground and Recreation Association of America, 315 Fourth Avenue, New York City. Normal Course in Play (Chapter I. The Community Recreation Program); price $2.00. Why a Year Round Recreation System (free on application). The Theory of Organized Play (Chapter II, The Present Need for Organized Play). Bowen & Mitchell, A. S. Barnes & Co., New York City, $2.40.

11 The Teacher and sex Education, by B. C. Gruenberg, Ph.D., American Social Hygiene Association, 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City, 1924; 25 cents. High Schools and Sex Education, B. C. Gruenberg, Ph.D., Public Health Service and Bureau of Education, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1922; 50 cents. Sex Education, Maurice A. Bigelow, New York, Macmillan, 1919; price $1.60.

fixed methods have been worked out to handle this situation.

Commercialized Prostitution: There is by no means unanimity of opinion on the question of the employment of women police for the enforcement of laws relating to commercialized prostitution. Indeed, there is extreme divergence of opinion as to how far the police force, as such, should go in attempting to suppress prostitution.12 One thing only is quite clear-the police force will go no further than active public opinion actually demands. Inside the police departments themselves the method of dealing with commercial prostitution depends on the laws, ordinances and regulations of the particular city or state. The evidence required varies in different courts and therefore the methods of procedure are not similar. The enforcement of such laws generally devolves on a special group within the police.13 The ordinary police work in this domain embraces the following activities: (a) Observation on the streets, in hotel lobbies

12"As far as the organized police force of a city is concerned, not prostitution itself . should be punishable . but all such manifestations of it as properly belong under the head of public nuisance-street walking, soliciting from windows, prostitution in tenement houses."' Police Administration, Leonhard Felix Fuld, page 406; Niles, Alfred S., The Police Department and the Social Problem. Proceedings National Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1915.

13 Specialized Courts Dealing with Sex Delinquency-A Study of the Procedure in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and New York, George E. Worthington and Ruth Topping; Frederick H. Hitchcock, New York, 1925. "Under present conditions practically all sex delinquents are brought to court by the police. The majority

of such arrests are made by members of the Special Plain Clothes Division of the Police Department.''