RUSH TO JOIN POLICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22226, 28 September 1935, Page 3 (Supplement)

RUSH TO JOIN POLICE

MEN GIVE UP PROFESSIONS A striking demonstration of the fact that the New York policeman's lot is a comparatively happy one has just been given in response to an offer to train candidates for the force without pay during their spare time. Nearly 1000 men from 90 different walks of life have been enrolled. In their anxiety to enter the ranks as patrolmen, at a wage starting at £4OO a year, they have agreed to attend j classes at the Police Academy in Brooklyn for 25 weeks, in the hope of improving their chances of being selected as soon as vacancies occur. The course will include lectures on criminal procedure, laws governing arrests, the handling of parades and crowds, departmental rules and regulations, and the history of police work in the United States in general and New York in particular. Lectures will be given every night and morning, while facilities for physical training will be provided on Governor's Island. The remarkable thing about these volunteers is that almost all of them are already regularly employed in professions which many people might consider superior to police work. One is a lawyer, five are airmen, 17 accountants, four civil engineers, 11 chemists, nine draughtsmen, one a dentist, three furriers, and one hotel manager. When they are all members of the Police Department that organisation will have a remarkable fund of expert information at its disposal. In addition there are 18 biologists, 20 bricklayers, two brewers, one beauty expert, 10 cable splicers, a cook, a hatter, two musicians, 41 plumbers, and a sailmaker on the list.

It may be presumed that many wish to change because they dislike the "vocation chosen on leaving school or college (]] candidates went to Columbia University and 17 to Fordham University), for the average age is only a trifle over 2(i.