For Policemen

Boston University--stating that it is not merely an institution which exists in Boston, but an institution which exists for Boston--announced a fortnight ago a comprehensive group of law courses for the police officers of all cities and towns of Greater Boston. Under the direction of Dean Homer Albers and Prof. Melvin M. Johnson, these courses will be given by Charles Willock, Assistant Clerk of the Municipal Criminal Court of Boston; A. C. Webber, former Assistant District Attorney of Suffolk County; Capt. Louis Lutz, Drillmaster of the Boston police force.

In Massachusetts, a policeman of a city is a public officer holding his office as a trust from the State, and not as a matter of contract between himself and the city. Police appointments are referred to cities and towns by the legislature as a convenient mode of exercising a function of government.

Said the Boston Transcript: "A considerable part of the value of the training to be given will be in its upbuilding of the police officer's knowledge of his precise relationship to the community which he serves, both in its legal and its social aspects. It is quite as important that a police officer should know when not to make an arrest as when to make one.

This is true for several reasons. One is that a police officer, not the municipality appointing him, is liable in a civil suit for negligent or illegal acts. A verdict against him in a suit for false arrest might easily sweep away the savings of a lifetime.