newsstands since. Both stores charged were temporarily closed until found clean by the courts. In one case The Review was taken from the newsstands by vice cops and although the Mattachine office wrote asking about the seizures no explanation was ever given. A short time later the Denver police added a dozen or so new men as a special "park contingent" to patrol the parks against the increased activities of "sex deviates" and "undesirables."'

All the time, this "cleanup" of sex deviates was being undertaken by a police force that had been engaging in elaborate criminal activities since 1947, or almost 15 years. 42 Denver cops were found to be linked to a burglary ring that had "eaten at the heart of the city for many years," said shocked Colo. Gov. Steve McNichols. The cell of burglars in blue, which originated in South Denver, spread by interdepartment transfers to other areas of the city three or four years ago. Immediately new cells of crooked cops were formed around these old hands at the criminal game, and new members were recruited by the use of payoffs in loot splits.

The Denver Post reported loot from burglaries involved in the charges may run higher than $150,000. The biggest single theft was $35,000-$40,000 cash stolen from a Denver market in June 1960.

Worn and disheartened, Police Chief James E. Childers, 69, retired the first of October, in the face of additional charges against his force. Said the Chief: "The pressure of the last week makes it so I just can't take any more." He will retire with a neat $494 a month pension, half his present salary.

In Philadelphia a conspiracy involving plainclothes and uniformed police to extort money from persons

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arrested in morals cases has been under investigation for ten months, it was disclosed October 27th. The pattern, it was reported, is this: men would be picked up by plainclothesmen in railroad and bus stations, Reyburn Plaza, and secluded places and taken to a station house. In only two cases did police permit the arrested persons to make a phone call. In the police station, in addition to the usual questioning, they were grilled as to their business and financial situation. Thus the shakedown began. The fee depended on the victim's ability to pay, which was often substantial. Reportedly in some instances reputable businessmen were subjected to sudden arrest without having committed any crime and put through the same process. The fate of the cops at this writing has not been determined.

The ACLU has frequently suggested a civilian review board to handle cases of police corruption. Invariably police commissions let offenders off with only a reprimand or temporary suspension from service. It is certain that nothing permanent can be accomplished by firing a policeman here or there or by improving a few minor segments of the service. Inquiries into police crimes are frequently dramatic. The results of the dramatic ones are not often lasting, and the history of police reform reveals a tendency to revert to police-criminal businessas-usual once the flurry of public concern has died down. Education in this area is badly needed. Maybe communities will finally learn that a cop who is willing to shake down a "queer" or cruise bus station toilets in tight levis looking for someone to arrest, needs policing himself.

THE CALL-GIRLS WERE BOYS

A gaudy spectacular that would put Prokoffiev's spicy opera "The

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