The New Policeman
TN this country," said Mr. Churchill in his St. George's 1 Day address last week, " everyone except the criminal looks- upon the policeman as the friend and servant of the public." That is broadly true. The average Englishman takes a proper pride in the police force as better than anything he is likely to find abroad, and the foreigner visiting Britain usually ministers to this complacency by the bouquets he metaphorically lays on the doorstep of Scotland Yard. For that reason, if there were no other, the Report of the Commissioner of Police for last year, which Lord Trenchard presented to the Home Secretary on Tuesday, is calculated to arouse con- siderably greater interest than such official documents commonly do. But there is, in fact, another and a better reason. This is the first report which deals with the Metropolitan Police under Lord Trenchard's direction, for though he did in fact sign the report for 1931, it covered mainly the period before his predecessor left office. There is a special interest attaching to the first views of a new broom, particularly when the broom is as vigorous and conscientious as Lord Trenchard has in every capacity shown himself to be. It is by no means always necessary to agree with him, but it is invariably necessary to take notice of what he says.
The Metropolitan Police Force, like the other local forces for which it is the model and pattern, exists for many purposes, the repression of crime being only one of the many, though ultimately the most impor- tant. The first question, therefore, to ask regarding this or any force is whether it is equipped in all respects to discharge this primary office with the maximum of effi- ciency. The salient fact about crime today is that, to quote the words of Lord Trenchard's report, " the criminal has become more skilful, more mobile and more scientific, and the methods of dealing with him must not only keep pace with, but get ahead of, him." That truth would appear to be self-evident, but so far as it is so the organization of the Metropolitan Police Force today stands largely condemned. What a force designed to deal with the modern criminal needs is the right men, trained and organized on the right methods. How far London is getting the right men today may be gravely questioned. The average police constable is of an excellent type, capable of discharging his routine duties with all reason- able efficiency. But the essential requisite in a police- constable is that he shall be ready for every emergency. Brains as well as character and physical fitness are indis- pensable, and it is disturbing to learn from Lord Tren- chard that today, in spite of the considerable increase in police pay, the number of London constables whose education was never carried beyond the elementary school stage constitutes between 80 and 90 per cent of the whole force. There has, it is true, been some improve- ment in the last three or four years, but in 1931 only about 30 per cent. of the se hieted candidates came from secondary schools. Lord Trenchard clearly has it in view to change the status of the police force gradually but decisively, and to make it a career rather for the secondary than the elementary schoolboy, with special 14 rf an ge ment s for bridging the gap between the leaving age and the age of entry-into the force, That ought to • be perfectly feasible. The mental exhilaration inherent in the idea of detecting or fore- stalling crime is considerable, and even the less spec- tacular forms of police work, in the shape of more obvious and immediate public service, have an equal attraction in their way. Subject to the one proviso that the average boy is able to look for a life career and steady advancement in accordance with his merits, Lord Trenchard should have little difficulty in getting from the secondary schools the recruits he wants. But that raises the further question of promotion, regarding which the present practice is in many respects unsatis- factory. Men of ability and of special qualifications are brought in at the top as Commissioners or Deputy Commissioners, but what may be termed the non-com- missioned officers and company officers of the force, men on whom in many cases immense responsibility rests, must be picked from among the rank and file. That, as has been said, is unsatisfactory under existing conditions, for the average constable, while capable of doing his duty efficiently under orders, is by no means necessarily equal to showing initiative, accepting respon- sibility and in his turn giving orders to others. If, on the other hand, the practice of bringing outsiders in to the secondary as well as the higher posts were adopted, the new type of recruit, at whom Lord Trenchard aims, might well feel his own chances of advancement were too precarious to make the profession attractive. Fortu- nately this difficulty is in fact unreal, for, with a new type of constable, there should be no serious difficulty in finding within the force itself men with all the necessary qualities for the positions of inspectors and superintendents. It may be hoped that the Home Secretary will take seriously the highly important suggestion the Commissioner of Police has made in this regard.
If the police force can thus be improved in quality, there should be little need to increase it numerically, though 19,500 men is no excessive measure for the needs of an area with a population of something like 8,000,000. But another reform most manifestly needed is the relief of the police from certain duties which manifestly divert the energy of the force from its primary task. In that respect Lord Trenchard adduces some remarkable figures. Out of 50,000,000 man-hours worked by the Metropolitan police a year, some 500,000 man-hours were expended in 1932 on attendances at police courts, and the preparation of plans in connexion with motor prosecutions, accidents, &c., accounted for another 100,000. The serving of summonses again lays an irritating burden on the police, for no fewer than 200,000 summonses are received for service every year and all of them delivered by hand. Every sensible man will echo Lord Trenchard's hope that it may be found possible to introduce the necessary legislation (for apparently it cannot be done without legislation) to enable summonses to be served by post. Another obvious means of relieving the force is the extension of the traffic light system.
On the whole the metropolis can consider itself well protected against the most serious crimes, and some of those which bulk largest in the columns of the Press are in fact much less frequent than the prominence given them would suggest. But there is another, a distinctly disturbing .side to this. Cases of larceny of all kinds, and in particular of burglary and house-breaking, are increasing, and it is• depressing to learn that in this category no more than 13 per cent. of the crimes are detected, the criminal going scot free in over 86 per cent. of the cases. The right way to deal with this particular problem is to regard it as a challenge. Given the right type of recruit to the police force, adventurous, resource- nil,. resolute, and provided • with. the -assistanee of fast cars and wireless :telegraphy; it should be possible to organize a campaign that will finally enable the polies to establish- a mastery even over the suburban burglar with odds of something like ten to one in -his favour, That at any rate is the ideal to aim at, and it is -necessary to recognize that it will not be achieved by any blind prosecution of routine methods,.
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