quency to the charge of ineffectiveness and
venality. It is not so often realized that these defects are fostered by
the impossible nature of the tasks which are imposed on the American
police.

This aspect of the matter has been very clearly set forth by Dr. Fuld,
of Columbia University, in his able and thorough book on police
administration.[202] He shows that, though the American police system as a
system has defects which need to be remedied, it is not true that the
individual members of the American police forces are inferior to those
of other countries; on the contrary, they are, in some respects,
superior; it is not a large proportion which sells the right to break
the law.[203] Their most serious defects are due to the impracticable laws
and regulations made by inexperienced legislators. These laws and
ordinances in many cases cannot possibly be enforced, and the weak
police officers accept money from the citizen for not enforcing rules
which in any case they could not enforce. "The American police forces,"
says Fuld, "have been corrupted almost solely by the statutes.... The
real blame attaches not to the policeman who accepts a bribe temptingly
offered him, nor to the bribe-giver who seeks by giving a bribe to make
the best possible business arrangement, but rather to the law, which by
giving the police a large and uncontrolled discretion in the enforcement
of the law places a premium upon bribe-giving and bribe-taking." This
state of things is rendered possible by the fact that the duties of the
police are not confined to matters affecting crime and public
order--matters which the whole community consider essential, and in
regard to which any police negligence is counted a serious charge--but
are extended to unessential matters which a considerable section of the
community, including many of the police themselves, view with complete
indifference. It is impossible to regard seriously a conspiracy to
defeat laws which a large proportion of citizens regard as unnecessary
or even foolish. It thus unfortunately comes about that the charge
brought against the American police that "it sells the right to break
the law" has not the same grave significance which it would have in most
countries, for the rights purchased in America may in most countries be
obtained without purchase. "An act ought to be made criminal," as Fuld
rightly lays down, "only when it is socially expedient to punish its
criminality.... The America