Corruption, Investigation, and Police Rule 184
One hundred years ago today … New York City Mayor John Hylan and Police Commissioner Richard Enright bowed to pressure and the possibility of legal action and rescinded the police department’s Rule 184, which the Tribune likened to wire-tapping of investigations.
New York Tribune, 18 January, 1921, p. 1. Chronicling America.
A state investigation into police corruption, as part of a larger investigation of graft in Hylan’s administration, had drawn attention to the rule.
Daily News, 17 January, 1921, p. 1. Chronicling America.
It had been a week since the Tribune had unearthed and reported on Rule 184, which read:
Any member of the department summoned to the District Attorney's office of any county, in connection with a case in which he or any other member of the department is apt to be made or become a defendant, will report the facts in detail at once to the Police Commissioner. (“Rule 184” New York Tribune, 18 January, 1921, p. 10)
Rule 184 was understood as a “gag rule,” in that it had effectively prevented police officers from testifying truthfully without fear of retribution. Evening World cartoonist John Cassel probably represented the thoughts of many when he first decried the rule, then celebrated its removal.
Evening World, 13 January, 1921, p. 26. Chronicling America.
Evening World, 18 January, 1921, p. 20. Chronicling America.
– Jonathan Goldman, January 18, 2021
TAGS: police, NYPD, grand jury, law, corrupt, municipal govenment