1934-05-Improvement Era-Crime Prevention is Better Than Cure

Crime Prevention is Better Than Cure

Improvement Era, v37 n5, May 1934

by Claude C. Cornwall

A story of the accomplishments of a Mormon girl in the world's largest city.

Shall we spend a little more on Prevention and, consequently, much less on Cure? Shall we attempt to heal broken hearts and lives or do our best to keep them from breaking? Read what our friend Claude has to say about it.

IN ordinary police procedure it has always been thought that the efficiency test for a patrolman is, "Did he get his man?" The theory behind this attitude is that the patrolman should stand guard over the city and be ready, in an emergency, to lay hands on its criminal element. When someone has committed an offense it is the duty of the policeman to arrest him. He can then be brought to justice and made to pay a penalty for his offense against society.

A new day has dawned. We are coming to realize that when a youngster is taken into custody because of delinquent behavior, "it isn't the child who is being brought before the bar of justice, but society itself." Back of every case of antisocial behavior are many causes in addition to the specific act which seemed to be severe enough to warrant a complaint. If these causes can only be found and eliminated, the chances are that there will not arise any necessity for treatment of delinquent behavior. If it can be prevented, it just won't happen. When a tooth is filled before it commences to ache it can be treated without necessity of pain and suffering. But if it is left to decay, it must eventually be extracted. A perfectly normal child can be exposed to the influences which contribute to the decay of personality, and if these are allowed to run their course he can hardly escape being affected by them. But if these factors are discovered and corrected, he develops an immunity and an ability to avoid their bombardments; largely because he directs his activities into more wholesome channels.

IN the city of New York this idea has begun to take root and on January 16th, 1930, the Bureau of Crime Prevention was established as a Division of the Police Department. The theory behind the creation of this Bureau was that it was to be officered by expertly trained individuals who would be not only instructed as police officers in the arts of handling tough characters, but educated also in the intellectual sciences of detecting conditions which breed criminal tendencies.

But where were the trained experts? To qualify for such positions required knowledge of human nature and of the technical sciences of psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and coupled with this educational background, an executive capability. A call was sent out, and arrangements were made for examinations in the Civil Service for the positions of Crime Prevention Investigators. Among the high four in the group of those who successfully passed this examination was Miss Evelyn Moyle, a Utah girl, a daughter of former president James H. Moyle of the Eastern States Mission. Her appointment followed immediately.

NEW YORK CITY was divided into districts comprising from ten to fifteen police precincts. Unit No. 2 includes some of the toughest neighborhoods in this great metropolis, among them being the famous, "Tenderloin District," "San Juan Hill" and the section known as "Hell's Kitchen." Housed in this Unit are nearly a million people. In her office on the third floor of Borough Headquarters in West 20th Street sits the Supervisor of this Crime Prevention Unit, a "Mormon" girl, a graduate of our own University, a product of our Western education and ideals. Her specific preparation for this important work was done in the New York School of Social Work and the New York University.

Quietly she goes about her duties, giving brief instruction here, making assignments there, contacting one after another of the "difficult" cases, and keeping in order the network of proceedings which flows continuously in and out of this busy office. When Miss Moyle first undertook her assignment the Crime Prevention Bureau was only an "idea." There wasn't even an office. She was given only a barren floor in this building. Furniture had to be obtained, desks and filing cases; and the space had to be partitioned off and divided into offices and investigation rooms. A complete personnel had to be assembled and trained. Report forms needed to be designed and methods of procedure initiated. The whole unit had to be created from the ground up.

It was a tedious task in the beginning. Particularly was this true in the problem of educating patrolmen and patrolwomen to the new viewpoint. These men and women had been trained in the police procedures of quick action and terse explanations. But Miss Moyle has patiently stood by her staff and laboriously taught them, one by one, to see the whole picture and to view a child's delinquent behavior as the resultant of all the influences to which he is subjected from day to day. It has been difficult work, but now after three and one-half years the results are commencing to show in big returns.

What an interesting sight it is to see burly police officers thumbing over sets of investigation reports, social histories, and talking about such things as family adjustments, psychometric tests, clinical diagnoses, psychiatric findings, recreational opportunities, emotional adjustments. Some of the men could hardly pronounce the names at first. But now they know what they're talking about. As regular police officers they were instructed to "Warn and admonish when necessary." Now their action goes far beyond a mere warning and an attempt to frighten a delinquent into socially accepted behavior. An intelligent analysis of the causal factors is made; the reasons behind delinquent acts are discovered and the youngsters are helped into new contacts, are brought under the wholesome influences of existing social agencies, and are given a new lease on life in an adjusted environment.

MORE than two hundred Social Agencies were used last year by the Crime Prevention Units and thousands of unadjusted youngsters were started into normal behavior by sensible case treatment. Baseball teams were organized, hiking clubs established, social contacts formed. In many cases the children are removed from the contaminating influences and given a new deal in a different environment. The investigator follows the motto of Scotland Yard. He, "never closes a case until it is solved." Even though it should require years to bring a case to a solution, it is always kept open. Unlike the attitude of the Canadian Mounted, "Getting his man," is the last resort. He can do it of course, but if a patrolman in the Crime Prevention Bureau finds it necessary to make an arrest, he feels that his work has in a measure failed. He wants to, "get his man" all right, but to get him as a friend and a useful citizen.

The crime bill in America is an appalling sum. That it costs less and is wiser to deal with it in its inception is just beginning to be appreciated by those who are responsible for public appropriations. It is an investment for the future. We are coming to see the absurdity of the answer of the politician who roared, "Posterity; and what has posterity ever done for me?" Well, it hasn't done anything yet of course, but it will one day arise and call that generation blessed which had vision of the future and enough initiative to actually do something about it.

In the early spring of 1932 Commissioner Mulrooney of the New York Police decided that the many unemployed young men eighteen to twenty years of age constituted a serious menace. Many of them were not being reached by the established playgrounds and they had nothing to do but loaf the streets all day. The commissioner visioned these young men playing baseball in a league that would involve hundreds of teams under friendly police supervision. He gave this problem to the Crime Prevention Bureau.

DOWN in Unit No. 2 was Patrolman John A. Young. He had found a group of these young men. He knew how to play baseball but wasn't used to such matters as arranging schedules, organizing teams, working out rules and giving supervision. He appealed to Miss Moyle for immediate help. She thought through the problem and decided that perhaps the writer of this article might be willing to give some assistance. Looking in the Church Directory she found an address but no telephone. She called police headquarters. In a few minutes out went this message, "Will patrolman in vicinity of 172 Fifth Avenue ask Claude Cornwall to call Watkins 9-8242."

A giant patrolman stood in the doorway of my apartment. "Are you Claude Cornwall?" he asked.

"Yes I am," I answered, trying to act composed.

"Call this number," he said.

"Surely," I replied, and wrote down the number as he dictated.

"It's Miss Moyle," he said, "Do you know her?"

"Oh yes, Miss Moyle," I said (breathing easier), "All right, I'll call her."

Patrolman O'Malley didn't stir. Then it began to dawn upon me that he didn't consider his errand finished until I had made the call. I took my hat and we left the apartment together.

Within half an hour I was at the Hudson Guild, a settlement in New York's West Side, sitting in with a group of young men under leadership of their most esteemed policeman friend. We were arranging details of a baseball league which was soon to unite these young men with other thousands of New York's unemployed youth. It was my first experience at being arrested and Miss Moyle often laughs about the scare it gave me. To her, of course, it was all in a day's work.

Besides her official duties, Sister Evelyn also has her domestic responsibilities for she was recently married to Harry Nelson, who is also a well known Utahn. Mrs. Nelson finds time in her busy schedule to carry on in her Church activities in the Relief Society Presidency of the Manhattan Branch, and is also Vice-President of the Utah Club of New York.

On her desk in the police office stands a lovely potted plant. "Where did you get that?" I asked.

"Oh it was given to me by one of my friends," she replied. Then she became reflective and mused, "There's a girl who was definitely headed toward a criminal career. If they had ever arrested her it would have been all over . . . She comes to see me often now . . . and she's so happy . . . you've no idea."