on this accident six months ago." What Mr. Woods meant was that half a year previous he had completed the plans for coping with just such a disaster. This is an example of what New York to-day terms "police preparedness." It has caused a transformation in the New York police department during the last three years, and has created a new and far-reach ern river towns by flood and fire, the San Francisco earthquake, and the European A typical modern patrolman: Edward F. Doyle, who was awarded the Rhinelander Medal for extraordinary courage in saving human life ing vision of combined duty and service. Largely as a result of several great disasters, among them the wrecking of West War, the New York police department is fitting itself to deal with any great crisis that may arise. Within a short time after hostilities broke out in the summer of 1914 it seemed possible that the United States might be drawn into the struggle. In that event the chances were that a hostile fleet would at least try to strike an overwhelming blow at the most populous, most exposed, and richest of cities, New York. The obvious thing for an enemy to do, after disposing of our own fleet, would be to take position off the Long Island shore, pouring down upon it, upon Brooklyn, upon the lower end of Man A section of the map at headquarters which shows by pins the location of fatal and non-fatal street accidents BRIDGE RIVER The traffic officer at Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street is one of the busiest men hands of the Federal Government,-but it York from the north or from near-by points in New England. The first step of such an enemy might be to cut New York's water-supply; this done, the city would be at the mercy of the army of invasion, and would capitulate. At that time the water-supply, coming for scores of miles up the State and as far as the Catskill watershed, was unguarded. It is not the case at present. During the early winter of 1915 I had the pleasure of sojourning for a short time at the camp of a detachment of engineers of the United States army who were quietly spending week here, a few days there, in a carefully planned route along the water-supply. The country folks thought that the soldiers were merely out on a camping-trip. As a matter of fact, they were not only designating points of danger so far as New York's water was concerned, but were marking places where troops might be mobilized in an emergency, gathering accurate data as to the local food-supply and forage for horses, mapping the railway facilities, the rivers, lakes, high hills, broad plains, all of which would be of vital importance should military occupation ensue. It is said that this military survey has been completed along the Atlantic Coast from Maine southward. the time referred to not fewer than a dozen out-of-the-way points were found where a man might go by motor, plant his dynamite bombs, and hurry away unseen, in full confidence that suddenly New York would find itself facing a water famine. At According to the police, New York City is never provisioned for more than four days in advance. In the event of an invasion of the coast region, the Federal Government would virtually take control of all means of transportation; yet the city must have its food, and therefore, in connection with the army, certain railroad lines have been set aside for bringing supplies to New York. Furthermore, more than a year ago the police made provisional arrangements at sources of supply in the West and Northwest for enormous quantities of food to be rushed to New York when called for in a time of great emergency, such as bombardment, invasion on land, a devastating earthquake, wide-spread floods, or a conflagration covering a large area and rendering thousands homeless and dependent. In such a crisis the single most important thing to guard would be a system of immediate communication, whereby police headquarters could keep in constant touch with every inspection district, every precinct station-house, and every outlying region, far down on Staten Island, over on Long Island, or up in the Bronx. With out such communication for giving and receiving orders the police would be powerless to act as a whole. Five minutes might be enough time to wreck completely the police telephone system. Realizing this, Commissioner Woods, after consultation with General Leonard Wood, organized a signal squad, with a central station on top of the Municipal Building, and with stations for relaying signals on the roofs of other tall buildings throughout the city. Owing to the peculiar tone effect of New York's sky-line atmosphere, and its background of buildings, ordinary signal-flags could not be used, so others of special colors were devised. But the Municipal Building itself might be destroyed; therefore, with approval of army officers, the police prepared mobile wireless stations, which can be set up at the intersections of streets at any point in the city within two minutes, as has been shown by repeated tests; and the commanding officers of the various precincts will soon have in their stationhouses receiving-apparatus so compact that it can be carried in an ordinary suitcase. Should a great disaster occur, making it necessary to remove hundreds of thousands of panic-stricken men, women, and children from one part of the city to another, adequate means of conveyance must be ready. For this purpose there are at headquarters lists of thousands of motorcars, with the names and telephone addresses of their owners, location of garages where they are kept, the types of car, carrying capacity, and other details. Also there are contracts with owners of aeroplanes and hydroplanes that could be used by the police, the location of each craft, the name, address, and telephone number of its pilot, and other related information. This data is so arranged and preserved as to keep it absolutely safe from destruction. On other cards are listed the names and addresses of surgeons and physicians and trained nurses; the location and floor space of every public and private school, hall, museum, church, or other large building which might be turned into an emergency hospital; the name, location, A troop of mounted police starting on their three-hundred-mile ride to the Syracuse fair. One object of this hike was to show the up-state farmers that the New York police are an alert and soldierly body of men and telephone of every wholesale and retail dealer in arms and ammunition, together with the number and type of weapons and explosives usually carried in stock. In this list is included those pawnbrokers who loan money on revolvers and guns. One may find, on separate cards, full details as to the location, with nearest stations of subway and elevated roads, of every valuable collection of paintings, statuary, jewels, ivories, carvings, and tapestries in the city. Other drawers contain cards giving information as to electric lighting plants, power plants, railway and steamship terminals, and other points. which would have to be guarded with special care in time of emergency. So far-reaching is the general plan of police preparedness worked out in the last two years that sites have been mapped in public parks, as well as in open spaces far out of town, where camps of refugees might be established. Following the ad vice of United States army officers who have had experience with civilian refugees in time of flood and earthquake, the police plans call for camps each accommodating not more than two thousand refugees. Water-supply systems have been plotted for every camp; cooking equipment has been arranged for; incinerating plants and shower-baths have been decided on; and every detail relating to tents, camp furnishings, clothing, food, hospital supplies, cots, bedding, knives, forks, spoons, cups, and plates has been worked out, and the police know just where to obtain these various articles if needed. The magnitude of the plans may be understood when it is remembered that in order to care for a million refugees it would be necessary to establish five hundred separate camps. Of course the police never expect to be called upon to care for a million refugees, or ten thousand, for that matter; but after repeated consultations with army officers, The mobilization of the police: a bicycle ambulance Commissioner Woods determined to get While the chief inspector at headquarters was talking of this police preparedness one day a question naturally suggested itself. The plans seemed to be methodically worked out, but how long would it take to set any of them in motion? How soon, in other words, could headquarters grapple with a sudden crisis? The chief inspector smiled. "Take out of the vault any card you choose," he said, "and hand it to me." I selected a card at random; it happened to be one giving details as to location, points of access, and surroundings of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Let us suppose that the museum has just been wrecked by explosion or earthquake," Inspector Schmittberger con The Sixth Precinct company of the Home Defense League drilling on the roof of the New York Life Insurance Building during the forty minutes which they are given by their employers once a week (at noon) for this purpose |
