APPENDIX.

REPORT OF A SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE SYSTEM OF AP

POINTMENT AND PROMOTION IN THE NEW YORK CITY

DEPARTMENT OF POLICE, SUBMITTED MAY 13, 1896.

TO THE CIVIL SERVICE Reform ASSOCIATION :

THE

HE undersigned committee, at the invitation of President Roosevelt, on Feb. 29th last, examined into the methods of appointment and promotion in the Municipal Police Department, and respectfully report as follows:

The present Board of Police Commissioners took office May 6th, 1895, at a time when the investigations of the Lexow Committee had revealed a condition of demoralization extending virtually throughout the department. It had been shown conclusively, not only that members of the force of both high and low rank had been guilty of blackmail and corruption, but that this to a certain degree was the logical result of the methods of appointment and promotion then prevailing.

It had been shown that appointments to the force, with only an occasional exception, were secured through political influence, or by absolute purchase. Promotions were made, with rare exceptions, for similiar reasons. The civil service rules were so preverted, that they did not interfere seriously with either practice.

It very frequently followed that, having entered the department by means of corruption, an officer accepted the plan as a natural basis for his future course. In order to cover the amount paid for his appointment or promotion, he levied blackmail on others; and the practice was often encouraged by his superiors in order that the position, commercially, might be made more valuable, and likely to command a high price when next put up for sale. It is certainly the case that merit and decency had little to do with the appointment or advancement of a police officer during the few years prior to the appointment of the present Board, and that no other single cause was so effective in creating the conditions the Lexow Committee discovered.

THE REORGANIZED POLICE COMMISSION.

Mayor Strong selected as Police Commissioners, Messrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew D. Parker, Frederick D. Grant and Avery D. Andrews. Shortly after their original selection the so-called Bi-partisan Police Bill was passed, requiring the appointment of not more than two members from any one political party. It so happened that Mr. Roosevelt and Col. Grant were Republicans, and their two associates Democrats. All were re-appointed, under the provisions of the new act.

Confronted with the state of demoralization to which we have referred, the new Commission undertook as its first work the reorganization of the force on a merit basis. Denied by the Legislature the right to make necessary dismissals in the course of reorganization, the Commission was obliged to adopt the slower and necessarily less effective process of reduction or dismissal for only such faults as could be proved satisfactorily in a court of law. But the Commission did possess great powers in the direction of reorganization in its right to make removals for unfitness only, and appointments or promotions solely for fitness. The change proposed was entirely novel compared with previous custom, and for a period it seemed difficult for members of the force to comprehend that the Commissioners were in earnest. It is evident, however, that their purpose has since become quite well understood.

THE SEPARATE CIVIL SERVICE BOARD.

The Bi-partisan Bill provided for the creation of a separate Civil Service Board, to consist of a number of captains and inspectors, and to be entirely independent of the Municipal Supervisory Commission. This for a time complicated matters. The separate Board was organized, nevertheless, without delay, by the addition of four clerks, one of whom, Mr. Willoughby B. Dobbs, who had served four years in the National Civil Service Commission, was made Chief Examiner, and another, Mr. William H. Bell, who had been a year on the Municipal Civil Service Board, being made Secretary. Practically all the work had been done by these employees, who have become trained experts, and who have devoted their entire time to their duties. Without their aid the Civil Service Board would have been utterly helpless, as the Inspectors and Captains could not possibly spare the time from their

regular employment to learn an entirely new set of duties, the proper performance of which would have demanded their entire executive attention. But thanks to the appointment of these clerks, and to their very efficient labors, the Board has reached a high standard of proficiency, and has become an important factor in the regeneration of the force. Its efficiency, however, is attributable also to the resolute purpose of the Police Board to obey the Civil Service Law in letter and spirit. The same system in the hands of administrators unfriendly to Civil Service Reform would produce results of a directly opposite character. The plan of separate administration is, therefore, in itself, unwise and vicious, and might result in the nullification of all the good to be hoped from the reform.

THE CONDUCT OF EXAMINATIONS.

At the outset, there existed a large number of vacancies in the force of patrolmen. Many had been dismissed as the result of disclosures before the Lexow Committee, and many others had been retired at their own request. The retirement of the Chief of Police, and of a number of captains, inspectors and sergeants shortly afterward, reduced the force further. The Commission found it necessary, therefore, to proceed at once to secure a large number of new men for patrolman's duty, and to fill by promotion, the vacant places in the higher grades. In describing the system adopted, the methods of appointment and promotion will be considered separately.

Since the organization of the new Board and up to the time of our examination 496 men had been appointed as patrolmen. There had been received from the Municipal Civil Service Board approximately 1500 applications, filed before the passage of the Bi-partisan Bill. The applicants in these cases were the first to be examined. All but 416 failed to pass the physical examination, and only 144 passed the mental examination. Six of these were dropped from the rolls for cheating, and 7 for other proper reasons; 13 were not selected because of the unsatisfactory nature of their vouchers, of themselves, or of their antecedents. All of the rest were appointed. The separate Commission had received the applications of 3170 candidates, 3075 of whom had been examined by the Board of Surgeons, and 55 per cent. rejected. In the mental examinations fol

lowing, about 30 per cent. failed, leaving not more than 15 per cent. of the original applicants who reached the eligible lists. It will thus be seen that the process of examination has been a careful one.

The mental examinations have been conducted in the main by the chief Examiner and Secretary, under the joint supervision of the Civil Service Board and the Commissioners personally. The medical examinations have been conducted by committees of the Board of Police Surgeons; the athletic examinations, by Dr. Brown, examiner for the Municipal Commission. Both mental and physical tests have been thoroughly practical in character.

Each of the examinations had been advertised widely. The Commissioners had also taken pains to emphasize publicly, the fact that candidates would be selected for appointment solely because of the qualifications discovered in the examinations, and that political considerations would in no case be given weight. As a result a much better grade of applicants have appeared, while the severity of the examinations has served to weed out from among these all but the most fit.

HOW APPOINTMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE.

The system of appointment from the eligible lists, we found to be substantially as follows: When the lists have been prepared, copies are furnished by the Examining Board to each of the four Commissioners. The eligibles are then separately summoned before each Commissioner, and examined by him personally, with reference to previous work and associations, and other personal qualifications that may not have been brought out in the examination proper. It has been the custom of the Commissioners, we find, to make definite notes of their impressions in each case. Twenty of the men on the existing eligible list were examined in this manner by Commissioner Roosevelt in the presence of your committee. These were taken in the exact order of their standing.

The following instances will give some idea of the character of the questions put by Mr. Roosevelt, and the answers received:

Q. Where were your parents born? A. In New York.