Let us consider first the constitution of the force. The whole body of police is small compared with that of other large cities, and in proportion to the mixed, turbulent public it controls--only one to 500 souls; it is governed by a Board of four Commissioners appointed by
[Illustration: "THEY SHOT DOWN ALL OPPOSITION" (p. 269).]
the Mayor for a term of six years. Particular duties are allocated to the several members of the Board. Thus, the senior Commissioner and president _ex officio_ is entrusted with the higher discipline of the force; he deals with all charges of misconduct, and decides whether offending constables shall or shall not be sent before the public tribunals. Another Commissioner controls repairs and supplies, examining and passing all bills for work done, after satisfying himself that it has been completed. A third supervises the Pension Fund, and disposes of applications for retirement, and also of applications from widows and children of police officers for relief. The fourth Commissioner is the Treasurer of police funds.
Immediately next to the Board stands a Superintendent of Police, who is chief of the executive, the responsible head of the _personnel_, of the rank and file of the force. He is the intermediary between the four Inspectors, who come next in the hierarchy, and the supreme Board, the channel communicating the Board's will and the agent to enforce its execution. The Superintendent holds all the threads of general control, and is responsible for and charged with the enforcement of the law throughout the city. Three Inspectors supervise each a separate district, being responsible for the preservation of the peace within its limits and security to life and limb; the fourth is the head of the detective branch. After the Inspectors rank the Captains of "precincts," of which there were thirty-four previous to the enlargement of the city, each "precinct" being analogous to a French _arrondissement_ or a police "division" in London. The Captain is an officer of great influence and importance in his precinct, which he rules more or less despotically, but nominally in the best interests of the public. He has a large force of men at his disposal, and is expected to use it for the comfort and protection of good citizens, as well as the pursuit and capture of criminals. The rank and file of the force serving under the Captains are classed as follows: first the Sergeants, from whom the Captains are commonly selected; next the Roundsmen; then the Patrolmen, synonymous with our ordinary blue-coated constables; last of all the Doormen, who are out of uniform and employed at stations, lock-ups, and in offices, performing many and various functions of administration.