Documents (Volume 1-99) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: and as to how he shall do it. Much of the work now done in the rural counties by these detectives would, it is believed, be as well or better done by the sheriffs and their deputies; and it seems a mistake of policy to withdraw in any degree, from the sheriffs and deputies in those counties, their sense of respon- . sibility as the conservators of the public peace and the pursuers of crime. The genius of our institutions will be best recognized by leaving, as far as possible, to local officers the performance of all duties which they have been expected to perform, and which they are presumed to be capable of performing, and for which they are directly responsible to the people. The Act provides a fixed salary of twenty-five hundred dollars per annum Tor the chief, and twelve hundred dollars for each ordinary'member of the force, " together with their actual and necessary travelling-expenses when on duty, not exceeding the amounts actually paid out by them." It has often happened that the duty alleged to have been performed is of a confidential nature, unknown ? either as to its necessity, prudence, or expediency ? to any one save the officer himself; and sometimes involves the employment, by subordinate officers, of other persons not known to the force nor to the public, either in character orname. I know of no instances of fraudulent charges for money or services; but such latitude to the members of any force must be pernicious, and holds out constant temptation to fraudulent returns of accounts. The Executive Department has seldom had occasion to employ this force; and, so far as its needs extend, no such force is necessary: and I recommend that it be abolished, and that a smaller service, of not more than ten or twelve officers, be authorized, who shall be under the...