| ¥
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