AUCKLAND SERIOUSLY SHORT OF POLICE

Chronicle (Levin), 26 June 1946, Page 3

AUCKLAND SERIOUSLY SHORT OF POLICE

FIYE TO SEVEN MEN FOR FIFTEEN BEATS AUCKLAND, June 24. No improvemenlt in the aiui of tho • stah' at the central poiice station has beeu effected smce the Coiinnissioner of l'olico, Mr. J. Cummings, anuounced ' on May 18 that he proposed to inake a | substantial increase in the number of I poiice in Auckland. The diitturbing ! slirinkage, because the intake of reicruits.is msullicient to counter-balauce j resignati'ons, retirements and other i eauses of defection, has not been ar- | rested. * I Burglarics are being. perpetrated in j the heart of the city at_ least every j I week, oue in which £878 was stolen . ! froin a safe in a book store being as | brazen.as any evcr cominitted in Queen | tilreet. Btill only from five to seven I men can as a rule be mustered to patrol ! thc vlo beats in the business aroa from 9 p.m. to 5 a.iii.j when the thieves are kctivc. Many robberies do not eome to tho notico of tho publie owing to the pruetice of the poiice in witliholding I informaliou from the press. Details of Strength ; The strength of the station, including both'tlie uniform aud plainclothes ' branehes, was 159, which was two men | fewer tirau at the timo of the Comi missLonor's statomcnt. Apart from the ! three executive ollicers, there are 104 | constables, 19 sergeants^ iive senior- ! sergeants and two sub-inspectors in the j uniform seCtion, and 19 detectives,^four i detectivo-sergeants and three sehiori detect'ives. i iSome men liave been recruited in the ^ Auckland distriet for the poiice force and are in the Wellington training , depot,. which was reopenod reccntly., but , cven if all those undorgoiug the courso | wero posted to the city, they would be ] insuHicient to bring the central | station 'a- stail up to the standard I necessarv for efficioney. Even 100 men ' would not liring ii back to its pre-war ' strength and at tlie same timo offset the need for more surveillancc as a ; result of the increase in population in ' tlie past six years. The concern of tlie ; Chantber of Commerce at thc situation i was reccntly conveyed to ihe Buperin- • tendent, Mr. .T. Sweenev, by the presiI dm.t. Mr. T. M. Davis.

j Patrol Cars I Tu ihe absence of men, other meaj sures have been laken by Mr. Sweenoy ! to ide citi/.ens with rnoro proteejtion jigaiiist evil-doers and they- have i met with some success. hiost importI aiit of these is the introduetion of fast 'cars jiatrolling the city and suburbs at ! night in charge of sergeants from the | iiTiifonn branch in addition to the j usual plainclothes patrols. They also joperate in daylight at the weekends. ! As tliese mobile patrols reconnoitro l as t'ar awa.v as l'apakiu'a, the number j on tlie roads is not enough for efficicnt I I'cveratie. Even if more care wero avail- ; uble there would be insufficieut men ! I'oi theai. .Sbme dilliculty would be experienccd in operating the existing ones wero it not for the fact that the station is well off for sergeants. Clerical Staff IJsed Bceause of the lack of men, Mr. Swcenev has had to put members of the ■ ertaricab stalT^oimpnjbroliiand'watchdrouse i duty from which they wero previouslv ' exempt owing to tlie concentrated I nature of their own work. They in- ' clude men in the distriet hoadquarters toflQce, fingerprint experts and Court j orderlies. Tt means that sometimes j they work on seven days of the week. I Apart from the city headquartfcrs, ! there are 27 other -poiice stations ' throughout the metropolitan aroa, the j majority of which are in charge of one i or two men. That at Mission Bay is I the only new one to be established for ! a number of vear.s in spite of the inereasing and changing population of tlie city.