Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

In 1912, Herman Rosenthal, a professional gambler, accused the New York CityPolice of protecting gambling houses; he was murdered on his way to meet withthe district attorney. The next year, San Francisco papers revealed that a groupof detectives had recruited a gang of con-men, offering protection in return for15 percent of the total take (an estimated gross of $300,000 annually) . And duringProhibition, dozens of Cincinnati cops sold confiscated liquor and offeredprotection to bootleggers in return for a share of the profits.4H Such scandalslargely discredited the police departments and the machines to which they wereattached.4'! But the Progressive agenda offered a map toward legitimacy.Seeking to replace the machine system, Progressive reformers looked tobusiness and the military for organizational models. Schools, for instance, werereorganized on a corporate model, whereas the police were structured accordingto a wlitary design. '