Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine announced today that all policemen and Police Department civil employees will be required to fill out a questionnaire asking if they are or were members of the Christian Front or of any “Communist, Bund or Fascist” or other “subversive organization.”
Patrolman Joseph Burkard, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said the association’s executive board would discuss the questionnaire among other subjects at a meeting tonight.
Commissioner Valentine would not say what he planned to do with the information, but said: “These questions are part of our records and they must be answer truthfully.” He added that “a member of the Police Department is a peace officer and must be neutral; if they are members, it may be that they cease to be neutral.”
“We know that a number of our men joined the Christian Front,” the Commissioner said, “and when they did join gave a dollar, but they thought they were going to combat Communism. When they found out this was not the truth, they immediately withdrew.”
Valentine said Inspector Michael Murphy had been conducting an investigation for some time regarding the Christian Front. “We know who are the members of the Christian Front,” he declared.
The 17 “Frontists” indicted for seditious conspiracy and theft of Government arms were today awaiting trial, set for March 6 by Judge Matthew T. Abruzzo at their arraignment in Brooklyn Federal Court yesterday. Their bail was reduced to sums ranging between $5,000 and $20,000. John T. Prout Jr. was the only one able to furnish bail immediately, and he was released.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
