Juvenile delinquency (1955)

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50 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY TESTIMONY OF R. E. PARKER, CHIEF OF POLICE, POMONA, CALIF. Chairman Kefauver. You are Chief K. E. Parker of the city of Pomona, chief of police of that city ? Mr. Parker. Yes. Chairman Kefauver. Mr. Bobo, will you ask him any preliminary questions you wish ? Mr. BoBO. Chief Parker, how long have you been chief of police of Pomona, Calif.? Mr. Parker. About 514 years; since December 9,1949. Mr. Bono. How large a city is Pomona ? Mr. Parker. Approximately 50,000. Mr. BoBO. On your police force how many officers do you have assigned ? Mr. Parker. We have 59 uniformed personnel. Mr. BoBO. Are any of these assigned specifically to juvenile delin- quency work? Mr. Parker. Yes, three. Mr. BoBO. Three officers are assigned to that work ? Mr. Parker. Yes. Mr. BoBO. Do 3'ou have any type of juvenile program within the police department, such as a PAL Club or Boy Scout activities ? Mr. Parker. Yes, we do have a well-rounded program. "VVe feel we are keeping abreast of juvenile delinquency in Pomona. Chairman Kefauser. You are a big man, Mr. Parker, and will you just turn this way so that everybody can hear you ? ]Mr. Parker. I said we do feel that we are keeping abreast of juve- nile delinquency in the city of Pomona in the use of a positive-type program. I would like to point out that the honorable councilwoman of the city of Los Angeles almost scooped me on one of them. In 1950 the city of Pomona had a lot of problems, hot-rod problems created by hotrod racing, and every night we were receiving calls from irate citizens w^ho were demanding that these disturbances and the danger to their homes be taken away. It didn't take us long to realize that we couldn't quell the exuberances of youth. We put on extra officers and we couldn't chase them down. And so in an effort to bring the hotrodders under control we de- cided to join them. We certainly couldn't beat them. So one of the officers, who is a racing enthusiast himself, went to the clubs and ex- plained the nature of the complaints and because of his enthusiasm in the sport was able to become a member of the club. And at a later date the officers of the city of Pomona let them use their local clubroom as a meeting place. We had organized activities for the hotrod clubs. We had what we call contests for car cleanliness, car safety, and so forth. The club members would lose points by having their car unsafe or unsightly. Chairman Kefauver. Have you got a place where they can race or run out there ? Mr. Parker. Yes; we do. In 1950 the club meiiiliers said, "Well, you policemen don't want vis to race, but where can we race ?" So we started looking around for a place for them, and we finally found an old airport in San Bernardino County that had been aban- doned, and after meeting with the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors we did obtain permission to use that. I think ours was