| ¥ 8 SUSQ UEHANNA BULLETIN Vol. 75 No. 10 - March 12, 1975 While we sleep, our policemen are vigilant There are so many things we take for granted in our community. While we sleep peacefully through the night, a few of our neighbors are awake and watchful, pro- tecting us. Only occasionally, when suffering from insomnia per- haps, we may gaze out a window into the dark night and see a lone police patrol car cruise slowly, vigilantly by. For today’s policeman no one above the law Being a police officer in a small town has its advant- ages and also its disadvant- ages, Chief James Millar of Marietta points out. In a small town the po- liceman knows most of the citizens. If someone vio- lates the law the police of- ficer knows who he is deal- ing with and how to deal with him. He also knows the character of the violator and how likely he or she will be to commit a similar vio- lation in the future. But knowing people well can also interfere with law enforcement. If everyone is equal before the law and if the law is to be enforced im- partially, regardless of who the violator is, then know- ing the violator well can be a painful situation, both for the policeman and for the person he is arresting. Chief Millar says, “I will not do anything to stain my badge. To treat people dif- ferently because of social standing would be for me a stain to my badge.” Chief James Millar is a firm believer in the demo- cratic equality of all peo- ple before the law. More- over, he believes that the new generation coming a- long also believes strongly in the democratic equality "of all people. Younger peo- ple abhor partiality in en- forcing the law, for exam- ple, arresting the poor and letting the rich get away with something. Watergate has strengthened their be- lief. Older people are not as aware as younger people of the need for equality in law enforcement. Policing is (Conti page 16) James Millar A poli “has to know a lot Susquehanna Times & The Mount Joy Bulletin MARIETTA & MOUNT JOY, PA. Or, worse, we may be wakened by a sound, an unusual creaking, a snap, a dog barking. We sit sudden- ly up in bed, put on a robe and slippers, and, heari beating a little fast, go to J. Bruce Kline, Chief of Police in Mount Joy, stresses how much more complex the job of policeman has become since he first be- came a law enforcement of- ficer 18 years ago. Supreme Court decisions to protect the rights of the accused have made the work of police much more diffi- cult. Arresting a person is no longer simply knowing that a crime has been com- mitted by a certain person. In convicting a person of speeding through town, some 60 conditions must be taken into account: for example, the distance be- tween the speeding car and the police car that is clock- ing the speeder, what the speeder said to the police- man when stopped, etc., etc. In a split second an ar- resting policeman has to make all sorts of correct % Bruce Kline eman today investigate what disturbed our sleep. Then we may wonder, where are the police? But most of the time we have a good night’s rest. We are unconscious. And we legal decisions before he acts. These instant decisions will be tested by a highly trained and skilled defense lawyer who has, not a se- cond, but a month or more in which to prove that the policeman was wrong in making the arrest. Police work today is a profession that requires le- gal, technical, medical, and interpersonal skills of a high order. Scientific know-how is required. Recently, the Mount Joy Police acquired some crime scene equip- ment. They can take finger- prints now at the scene of a crime, take flash photo- graphs, and make plaster casts of tire treads and foot- prints. They can analyze drugs and administer their own breatholizer test for, intoxi- cation. (Continued on page 16) are unconscious of the po- lice who are always on the alert. We usually only become conscious of the police when we break a law by hoping they won’t come by while we are parked by an un- Ten Cents plugged meter or when we go through a stop sign with- out stopping on a back road. If they do come by and do their duty by arresting us, we finally become con- scious of them. And we don’t like them. It takes a lot of cool to be a police officer If a television producer would ever plan a .weekly show based on the profess- ional life of George R. Shirk, Chief of Police of East Done- gal Township - the show ought to be called “Mister Cool.” Making out a speeding ticket for a resident who knows him, Chief Shirk is asked, “You mean you're going to arrest me?”’ When “Shirkie” or “Dick” as he is variously called nods and continues writing out the ticket his acquaintance calls him a filthy name, and speeds a- way. Chief Shirk gets in his cruiser, follows the outrag- ed speeder to a stop sign, gets out of his cruiser again, and hands the speeder the ticket. The speeder tears up the ticket, dropping the pieces on the highway. “Now,” says “Shirkie,” not raising his voice, “I'll have to charge you with littering, too.” Imperturbability is one of Chief Shirk’s main quali- ties. If he is wakened at 3 a.m. to stop a fight be- tween a husband and wife, his calm but impressive uni- formed and armed presence in the doorway is usually sufficient to soothe the em- battled and usually drunken husband. “Next day,” says Chief Shirk, shaking his head in bewilderment, “they’re back together again.” His job is, of course, to enforce the law, but he does (Continued on page 16) George R, Shirk
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