Justice by Accident
SIR,—May I try to dispel Mr. Birnberg's doubt about the efficacy of an Ombudsman? Probability of detection remains the best known deterrent. One can therefore hope that an efficient Ombudsman would reduce misconduct by the police or any civil servant—and in the best possible way: by prevent- ing it before it occurs. (His mere appointment is reported to have had a wonderfully tonic effect upon some government departments in Scandinavia and New Zealand.)
Deterrence, of course, only operates upon minds susceptible to reason: but an Ombudsman (or any other effective machinery for the impartial and rapid investigation of complaints) should also be able to detect the others long before they can cause as much damage as Challenor did.
1 Kings Bench Walk, EC4
BEN WHITAKI
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