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As the structures of cities surrounding our County grew in the early 20th century, our County struggled to keep up. This was certainly true of our law enforcement agencies. Our population grew, but the organizations overseeing our safety and criminal investigations lagged behind our neighbors. In February 1935, the Enterprise and the South San Francisco Journal lamented the situation in no uncertain terms:
"The Kathleen Robinson murder (to be featured in an upcoming From The Crime Files posting) was another of San Mateo County's list of unsolved killings. Among these cases was that of an unidentified Chinese man whose body, pierced by five bullets, was dumped out near Belmont three weeks ago; the "dental plate" case of Kings Mountain, in which an unidentified woman's decomposed remains were brought to light; and the death of Peter Jewett, Stanford student, who was fatally injured at "The Klondike" in Atherton on April 26, 1934.
"Police never proved to the satisfaction of relatives that the death of Mrs. Edith O. Spencer and her gardener, John Viano, in Menlo Park, July 20, 1932, was a murder and suicide. (This crime was the subject of a previous posting in From The Crime Files.)
"Two other murder cases in the same year remain unsolved. On September 26, Maurice Russell, San Francisco advertising man, was murdered in Pedro Valley. The late Pedro Guerrero, a hermit, was tried and acquitted. On November 1, the bullet-ridden body of Paul Robinson, a Los Angeles mob victim, was dumped into an open ditch at Sharp Park Golf Course, Salada Beach.
"Last October, the mutilated body of Frank Lange, a retired miner, was discovered in the ocean waters off Salada Beach—another unsolved murder mystery.
"Is it any wonder that San Francisco criminals find San Mateo County a very safe dumping ground for their "ride" victims? What chance would the sheriff's office or any of the dozen or more scattered little police forces have against an organized mob such as Dillinger's gang once was?
"South San Francisco has a better police record than most Peninsula cities, but its arsenal wouldn't arm half a dozen boys on a rabbit hunt. When the recent general strike came, the firearms of private citizens were borrowed for special officers.
"All of San Mateo County must come to realize that it must provide itself with police protection commensurate with the dangers of the era. It is becoming as important to provide police with adequate equipment as it is to place trucks and hose in the hands of firemen. We can't fight crime with poorly trained, inadequately equipped and uncorrelated police departments. We should have our own trained investigators without being put to the necessity of importing them from Sacramento or any other place."
Apparently, the voice of the Journal joined with other voices, and changes were made that made our County's police and sheriff's departments into the fine agencies doing the police work we see today. Currently, the Sheriff Department's Headquarters Patrol Bureau alone features almost 40 personnel, and, according to their website, the Redwood City police department's Patrol Division responds professionally to more than 77,000 service calls annually – that's 211 a day!
