ART. 4.] POLICE. 511

under this sub-title or this article, they will in no case, and under
no pretext, appoint or remove any policeman or officer of police,
or detective, or any other person under them, for or on account
of the political opinions of such policeman, officer, detective or
other person, or for any other cause or reason than the fitness or
unfitness of such person, in the best judgment of said commis-
sioners, for the place to which he shall be appointed, or from
which he shall be removed; and the said oath or affirmation shall
be recorded and preserved among the records of said court.

Mayor v. State, 15 Md. 376. Brotherton v. Board of Police Comm'rs of
Balto, 49 Md. 495.

1867, ch. 367.

723. The board of police commissioners, on entering upon
their duties as such, shall select one of their number who shall be
the president, and one of their number who shall be the treasurer
thereof; and in case a vacancy shall happen in said board during
the recess of the general assembly, it shall be filled by the governor
of the State, which appointment shall continue until the next ses-
sion of the general assembly, which shall proceed to fill said va-
cancy ; and the general assembly shall also, in like manner, elect
by joint ballot, commissioners to succeed those whose term of ser-
vice shall expire—such election to be had at the regular session of
the general assembly immediately preceding such expiration—and
neither of said commissioners shall be eligible to an elective or ap-
pointed office during the term for which he has been elected,
except under the militia laws of the State; and for any official
misconduct on the part of said commissioners, the general assem-
bly, if in session, shall have power of removal, and during the
recess of the same, the governor shall remove any of said commis-
sioners, on conviction for any felony before any court of law, and
shall appoint a successor to such delinquent commissioner so re-
moved, to serve until the next meeting of the general assembly.

1884, ch. 176.

724. The board of police commissioners shall select some suit-
able person to act as secretary to the board, whose duty it shall
be to keep minutes of the proceedings of the board, take charge,
by direction of the board, of all property seized or found by the
police or detectives, and to perform all clerical and proper duties