Confidential File

Cops Troubled With Delusions

A policeman's lot, I've heard it sung, is not a happy one.

And I'm inclined to agree.

He's an underpaid, overinsulted public servant who even has to make good on the bullets he uses protecting the proverbial life and limb.

He's
the guy who finds himself pounding a lonely beat in Staten Island for
giving a friend of a friend of the mayor a bad time about a traffic
ticket.

While the top brass works in air-conditioned offices, he
patrols the streets in 90-deg. weather wearing a heavy wool uniform
shirt. And they tell him he is to conduct himself in "a manner becoming
an officer" even under conditions when human nature makes it just about
impossible.

A policeman, as Ezra Taft Benson might put it, has a tough row to hoe.

And, apparently, it's going to get tougher.

There's
a trend developing among some leaders in law enforcement to consider
themselves and their subordinates as a sort of "elite corps."

It
first became evident with the sudden burst of sensitivity on the higher
levels at the use of the formerly respectable three-letter word "cop."
Even such a calm head as J. Edgar Hoover put himself on record as
considering the term a personal affront to his profession.

Lately, the strange attitude that cops should not be considered mere mortals has become even more evident.

Now a policeman is not supposed to fraternize with civilians on the grounds that the contact will contaminate him.

I refer you to this week end's bizarre headlines out of Las Vegas, where the sheriff of that quaint little village canned one of his deputies for becoming engaged to a chorus girl.

The sheriff, W.E. Leypoldt,
said the showgirl was too wealthy (from some real estate investments
which she made), and explained away his action by stating:

"I don't want any captain of mine coming to work in a Cadillac and living in a $50,000 house.

"It is the policy of the police departments everywhere to terminate officers who marry wealth," he added.

Taking
the sheriff at his word, I still take exception to his logic. There are
enough people around today, telling bachelors whom to marry, without
having it become part of the department's manual.

I could understand a bank president frowning on one of his tellers exchanging vows with a girl who did time for embezzlement.

But I think Sheriff Leypoldt's attitude — whether he's against showgirls or wealthy women — is a little bit wild.

It's a rare occurrence nowadays that a bride comes complete with dowry and a good figure.

It
seems to me that if the sheriff really had a fatherly interest in his
boys on the force, he'd be proud that one of them landed a good catch.

But the feeling I get concerning the affair is that Leypoldt didn't want one of his men to marry beneath his station. This is pure snobbery and a slap in the face to show business.

Not Blue Book Babes, But . . .

It's
true that not many chorus-line cuties are in the social register, but
today's crop, in general, is well protected and well respected. Chorus
girls now are poised, educated, talented entertainers — not Yukon
belles.

If the current protective trend among law enforcement
brass continues to develop, I can foresee a grim day ahead when
deputies will be permitted to fraternize with no one except
departmental personnel.

Policemen would have no choice but to marry policewomen.

And you know what that leads to. Inbreeding!