POLICE PUBLICITY
We are accustomed in these days to the idea that public departments should prevent undesirable error, by issuing to the Press a careful and precise statement of the facts with which they are concerned, but when the habit spreads to Scotland Yard we find some cause for alarm. The case which brought this regrettable fact to light is that of Rex v. The Editor, Printer and Publisher of the Surrey Comet. The paper published a report on April 8th which, it was alleged, was calculated to prejudice the fair trial of a man on remand on a charge of murder. In attempting to show why a judg- ment for contempt of court was not justified Sir Thomas Inskip said that the information published emanated from " the Press Bureau at Scotland Yard." The Lord Chief Justice, in reply, said that he had never heard of the existence of such a bureau, and added. " I hope that I shall never hear of it again." We hope that the matter will be raised in the House of Commons. We do not suggest that the police have made improper use of this bureau, but it is so obviously liable to misuse, and would be so dangerous if misused, that the question should not be allowed to rest.
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