Police Methods

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21412, 2 March 1935, Page 12

Police Methods

A Press Association message from Gisborne gives an account of & police court case in which a shopkeeper was prosecuted for illegally selling an article which he did not stock but which a policeman had persuaded him to procure specially. After dismissing the case on a legal technicality, the magistrate made this comment on the methods used by the police:— It seems a strange thing to me that when a person says he doesn't supply a thing the police should induce him to procure it. It is going too far to induce a man to commit an offence and then to prosecute him for it. It must be hoped that the magistrate's remarks will be brought to the notice of the Minister for Justice. Cases of this sort are far too common; and the evidence on this occasion showed that the constable concerned was acting on specific instructions from his superior officers. The proper function of the police force is to prevent and not to encourage breaches of the law. Moreover, if police officers are to retain their self-respect and the respect of the community it is essential that they should not be employed as agents provocateurs. No justification which the police authorities can offer makes the practice of wheedling a man into committing an offence in order to secure a conviction seem anything but despicable.