State supreme court as United States attorneys have in the United States district courts. COUNTY JUDICIAL MACHINERY There are 62 counties, but 66 county judges, as 2 of the counties have additional judges. These courts have criminal and civil jurisdiction. Defendants can now be tried in such courts under indictments based on violation of the State penal law (sec. 1530), known as the public nuisance act, for maintaining a public drinking place where intoxicating liquor is sold, as referred to hereinbefore. Before the repeal of the State prohibition law in 1923, as aforesaid, violations thereof in the 57 counties outside of New York City were tried in the county courts. MUNICIPAL JUDICIAL MACHINERY In New York City there are 47 city magistrates. Under the former State prohibition law violators in New York City were arraigned in these courts and held for trial in the sessions courts. There are 13 special sessions judges and 9 general sessions judges having criminal jurisdiction. In each of the 59 cities outside of New York City there is a city court having local criminal jurisdiction. In the villages and towns are police judges having similar local jurisdiction. THE STATE OF NEW YORK As everyone knows, it is first in population. It is twenty-ninth in area, and is, therefore, an average State in area. Bounded north and west by Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, Canada; on the east by Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and by Lake Champlain for 100 miles from Canada southward; and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; with Long Island extending eastward for upwards of 100 miles, bounded on the north by Long Island Sound and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean; it will be readily seen that it offers great opportunities for the unlawful importation of liquors by land and sea. It is the leading manufacturing State in the Union, with large industrial centers, and pays 25 per cent of the entire Federal income tax. The population and area, boundaries, economic and financial situation, and related subjects are all contributing factors to the general prohibition situation, and especially in New York City. THE CITY OF NEW YORK It is unnecessary to state that New York City is the chief port of the United States. More than one-half of all export and import shipments of the country pass through the port of New York. It is the national and international financial center. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York City transacts one-third of the total business done by the Federal reserve system of the entire United States. The total alien immigration admitted into the country during the fiscal years 1909 to 1928, inclusive, was 11,114,998, of which 7,100,613 was admitted through the port of New York. Over 52 per cent of the population of the State lives within New York City, with an area of 308.95 square miles. Other similar facts could be mentioned, but these are sufficient to produce a fair picture of the city where is the greatest test of Federal prohibition. POPULATION CLASSIFIED (New York State Census. Population, June 1, 1925) (Federal census of 1920. Not shown by State census of 1925) First generation, foreign born_-_ Second generation, natives of United States, one or both parents foreign born____ Population of New York City in 1920_. FEDERAL PROHIBITION-ENFORCEMENT MACHINERY 1,991, 547 2, 303, 082 5, 620, 048 There are three Federal prohibition districts in New York State. Each has an administrator, an assistant administrator in charge of enforcement, an office assistant administrator in charge of the permit or permissive division, with an inspection division, a legal division, and other officials, with enforcement or prohibition agents or investigators. One district has jurisdiction over the so-called New York City Metropolitan District covering New York City, Long Island, 186.61 per cent. 52.6 per cent of State. 476.2 per cent of State. Staten Island, and Westchester County, with headquarters in New York City. The other two districts cover the up-State section, with headquarters at Albany and Buffalo, respectively. The total number of prohibition agents and investigators assigned to the State is as follows: District No. 2 (New York City): Agents--- Investigators 160 8 168 In addition there are a number of special agents and investigators who work on special cases and who are not under the administrators, and who report to the commissioner's office. Also, there are customs and immigration agents and inspectors who serve along border lines and points to combat the smuggling of property (including liquor) and aliens, respectively. A centralized border patrol patterned partly after the New York State troopers might produce a more effective border control. STATE LAW-ENFORCEMENT MACHINERY The division of State police known as the State troopers was organized in 1917. It has grown each year numerically and in varied law-enforcement activities. This force functions outside of cities and villages having their own enforcing agencies, unless called upon by such municipalities for assistance. It cooperates with State and county officials and furnishes trained investigators for special work upon request by district attorneys and other public officials. The organization consists of 6 troops of 95 officers and men each, with barracks at 6 selected places and with semipermanent substations scattered throughout the State. There are also 45 men assigned to State parks, making a total of 615 officers and men on active duty. It conducts a State school for police as a means of bringing about maximum efficiency. The State troopers made 33,116 arrests in 1928, with 30,162 convictions, as follows: The arrests cover 90 classifications of crime, of which violations of the motor vehicle law constituted two-thirds, and of which 1,405 were for public intoxication, but the following are of particular interest : It will be noted that of 459 cases pending in the Federal courts January 1, 1929, 457 are for violations of the national prohibition act. COUNTY LAW-ENFORCEMENT MACHINERY There are 62 counties in the State. Each county has a sheriff, who has a number of deputies. In each of the five counties or boroughs of New York City the sheriff and his deputies perform only civil and court work; also in Nassau County, where there is a county police force. In the other counties the sheriff is the chief lawenforcement officer of the county, although practically all of his criminal service is employed outside of the cities. The total number of sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, and assistants subject to law-enforcement work is 1,276. The greater part of the deputies serve on a fee basis and do not give all their time to their official service. In practically every county outside of New York City, excepting the six counties where there are barracks and company stations, the State troopers have a substation at the county courthouse and work with and cooperate with the sheriff in criminal cases. NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT The police department of New York City had a total force of 17,763 for June 30, 1929, an increase of 591 since January 1, 1929. The police commissioner has requested over 1,700 additional men, or a number equal to about two-thirds of the present entire force of prohibition agents throughout the United States. The annual appropriation for the police department is $46,500,000, which is a larger sum than the annual budget of each of 39 States. The following number of individual arrests were made by the New York City police for violations of the national prohibition act: July 1 to Dec. 31, 1928- Total, July 1, 1928, to June 30, 1929 8, 217 10, 372 18, 589 After the arrests are made the cases are turned over to the Federal prohibition department and the United States attorney. These cases constitute over 90 per cent of the arrests made in New York City for violations of the national prohibition act. One of the particular features of these wholesale arrests is the result to the Federal judicial machinery in New York City (especially Manhattan, in the southern district of New York) that is worthy of some study and consideration. These defendants are chiefly bartenders in speak-easies and waiters in night clubs, cabarets, and so-called restaurants. Sometimes some of those arrested turn out to be or claim to be only customers or patrons. They are arraigned before the United States commissioner and many of them discharged. The greater part of the remainder waive a hearing and are held for Federal court on the charge of possession or nuisance, as other charges require grand-jury action and indictments as felonies under the so-called Jones amendment. Over 90 per cent of such defendants are permitted to plead guilty and pay a small or moderate fine, ranging from $10 to $50, with an average of about $25. This cafeteria court has been held once each week, at which time about 200 defendants plead guilty and pay a fine which was first fixed at $10 in the ordinary case and then raised to $25. Less than one-half of 1 per cent are subjected to trials by jury. If all of such defendants were threatened with imprisonment or a heavy fine upon a plea of guilty, they would undoubtedly plead not guilty and stand trial before a jury, as would be their right. In such event all of the judicial time of all of the Federal judges in the district would not be sufficient to handle all of such cases. MUNICIPAL LAW-ENFORCEMENT MACHINERY There are 60 cities and 45 first-class villages having mayors and chiefs of police. The activities of the police officers of these municipalities are limited to the confines of their respective cities and villages. There are also a number of other small villages, some of which have one or two police officers, who are usually traffic officers, but the total number of these officers is negligible. It is often pointed out by police officials that, while they have a certain number of officers, about one-third of them only can be on active duty at any one time, and of such one-third the service of a large proportion is utilized for traffic and other police duties. While this is correct, the same situation exists as to all law-enforcement officers, including prohibition agents. Much of the time of many such agents is taken up with guarding warehouses and various liquor plants and places to prevent diversion, and in attendance at court and otherwise. Thus, in making numerical comparisons, the total. number of officers or agents or active man power offers a fair and true comparison. The total number of police officers is: |