Police Need Well Trained Bloodhound, Says Isaac London, Jan. 6, 1921

The alarming increase of crime in the big cities is causing grave concern to the smaller towns and rural communities. Sooner or later many of those hardened criminals, gradually driven from the cities, will begin to overrun the more sparsely settled sections of the country. It is a condition to which one cannot look forward with any degree of equanimity. It may not materialize to any great extent, but the danger is too acute to be ignored. The old saying that an “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is everlastingly true. Rockingham and Richmond county can have no better preventive than the possession of a well-trained bloodhound! Two instances have occurred right here in Rockingham within a month’s time where had a bloodhound been available the culprit could have been captured. This matter of a bloodhound was presented to the County Commissioners recently. They passed the matter by with the remark that a bloodhound is no good unless the animal is handled carefully and kept in the pink of condition. Of course that is true, as is the case with any valuable piece of machinery; leave it in the wet, it will rust; neglect it and it will not function. This matter of a county or town owned dog should be seriously considered by the County Commissioners and the Town Commissioners. Unquestionably the mere fact that such a dog can be secured within a few minutes after a robbery or crime will go a long way in safeguarding the property and rights of our people. It would indeed be a wise investment, and money spent for such a purpose would well repay our tax payers. (From the editorial page of the Rockingham Post-Dispatch, Thursday afternoon, Jan. 6, 1921, Isaac S. London, editor and proprietor.)