False imprisonment .used to be rather a serious offence, but
we are abolishing all that. Mr. Meade, employed in the engineer department of the Bank of England, was sitting quietly with his wife and child in the Crystal Palace, when he was arrested for picking pockets. There was not a trace of evidence, but he was led a prisoner through the Palace, two constables ordered to take " that woman," his wife, away, he himself searched and detained for nearly two hours in the station-house. Then the detective acknowledged his mistake. Before the magistrate Mr. Meade expressed his will- ingness to be content with a public apology, but an inspector informed the court that apology was " forbidden by the regula- tions of the force," and the magistrate fined the detective forty shillings. Had Mr. Meade, when thus seized, knocked his assailant down, he would have had at least two months' imprisonment, with- out option of fine.
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