A PERMANENT WAVE IN CRIME?

With Governor Miller proclaiming that New York City must be made a "safe place to live in" and the daily press echoing with the announcement that in the last 98 days there have been 91 murders in the Metropolitan district, the so-called "Crime Wave" is with us again. Is it the effect of the post-war reaction, reflecting general world wide lawlessness as a result of renewed acquaintance with the automatic? Are there laws enough at present against crime, or is the present machinery adequate to enforce them? Does the flaring publicity attendant on each daring hold-up serve to keep crime in check, or does it merely add fuel to the flame by casting a sort of romantic glamour over the whole thing? The National Bar Association is seeking to answer questions such as these in an investigation now being conducted in New York.

But whatever statistics come out of this investigation, one defect is glaringly apparent even to the layman. Crime and its methods have advanced as rapidly as the rest of civilization. The old-time "jimmy" and the nitroglycerine "soup" are now aided by elaborately planned, wireless-informed rings operating with the most modern tools and making a getaway in high-powered cars. To combat this the old-fashioned equipment and ponderous methods of the police departments are hopelessly inadequate

It is the same story with the criminal courts, where the machinery is hopelessly clogged for want of enough money and magistrates. The cost entailed in providing the police with up-to-date equipment and the courts with enough magistrates to clear the dockets is relatively small when compared with the enormous outlay constantly being invested in private ventures. Americans are notoriously stingy about any expenditure that savours in the least of public service, and correspondingly extravagant in satisfying the private wants; but thorough going support of the police is one part of the public service that cannot wait. It is one thing to talk about Crime Waves and their origins in idleness and unemployment, which will come to an end when "business picks up a bit"; but the most effective means of preventing any such wave from becoming permanent is by providing the machinery of the law with adequate funds.