THE POLICE FORCE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 234, 27 June 1919, Page 8

THE POLICE FORCE

GRIEVANCES OF DETECTIVE BRANCH FINDING OP COMMISSION NO RELIEF GIVEN The report of the Departmental Commission which was charged with au inquiry into certain questions of police administration has been received by the Minister, who has prepared a statement for publication in the "Police Gazette" for the information of (he members of the force." ' One of the questions was whether the eight hours day should be instituted instead of the four hours oil and four hours off, which had previously obtained in the force. The eight hours system had already been tried in Wellington, and reports are that it has worked quite well. The Commission recommends that the system t>9 tried in the four chief centres —Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin.

The other question was the important one, and the only one presenting any difficulty. It had to do with the rank and status of the detective branch of the force as compared with the rank and status of the uniform branch. This is a question which has 'been before every Commissioner and every Minister for a long time, and the present Minister-ap-pointed , the .Commission in order that he might obtain advice en the matter. The position is not generally understood by the general public, ond the question is one only^indirectly interesting to the public Alt the concern of the public i 9 that there shall bo an efficient police force, and the public,can quite well understand that if there is disaffection on account of .unrelieved--grievances among any body of the' force, there is risk that this body.-may not be, efficient. The grievance of the detectives is that they have no opportunities of promotion such as those enjoyed by the uniform men. They cannot.rise to be commissioned officers of the force unless they succeed in getting a transfer from the plainclothes branch into the uniform branch. They have to spend all their lives in the 'centres of population, where diving is dear, and where there are no "pickings" such as may be earned in the course of duties by: country constables in charge of stations. They get no extra pay for their special duties, but their position is recognised in some degree by the granting of allowances, which range from Is. a day lo 3s. a day, according to length of service. This is supposed to compensate for their, being ' required to wear plain clothes which they have to find themselves in'-, stead of uniform and boots found by the Government for the uniform men. But the pay of a detective, which defines.his status in the force, and fixes the amount of superannuation to which he is entitled, is the same as the pay of a constable. The procedure in the appointment of members of the force to the detective branch is that after a man has had some little experience, which always extends over some years, in : general police duties in the uniform branch, he may, on his own application, be transferred to the detective branch. It is claimed that the men who are no transferred are chosen on account of special ability in the cla.ss of work they will be required to do" as plain-clorlies men. When a man is transferred ho becomrs, after a period of probation, an actingdetective, but this is not a promotion After he has served some time lie is made a detective, but again this is not a promotion;: When he has gone through all these stages he is still a constable in status in the force. After a long period of years of service he may be appointed to the rank of detective sergeant, when he is told that he is equal in rank and status with a sergeant in the uniform branch. After an indefinite -period of service, he may possibly be appointed a chief-detective, when he is equal in rank with a senior sergeant in the uniform branch. But there are duly four positions of chief detective in.. the country, and the chances "of this rise in rank-are not considerable. / .■

The Commission has been atsome pains .to justify this arrangement, and has searched into''the archives of the force of the earliest days for precedents. The conclusion the Commission has come to is that the state, of things should remain unaltered and that detectives' allowances should be one shilling a day after the first six months (the probationary period), Is. 6d. a, day on appointment as a detective, and 3s. a nay, the maximum being attained alter nine years' service as a detective,

The claim of the detective branch to special recognition has always been based on the. fact that they deal with prac-. tically all the rnaior crime in the community. -They deal with all of it except those cases of flagrant crimes of violence., committed in broad day or by night, when the officers on the beat' may catch the offender red-handed., Even then on occasion the case.may be handed over to a plain-clothes mail to collect the evidence in support of the indictment, should the : case bo sufficiently serious to go to the Supreme Court. They are junior to sergeants; but if a sergeant iii charge of a-country station has to report a serious crime the perpetrator of which is not known, he frequently asks for the assistance of a detective. If the case is r.ot a very bad one even an acting-detec-tive may be sent to deal with it. This is most of the argument in support of the detectives' claim for special recognition.

The arguments against the claim are made by the uniform branch, members of which are opposed to special recognition of the plain-clothes section. It is admitted that the detective has special work to do, but it is urged on the other hand that he. escapes the unpleasant work of street duty. Much of this work is extremely unpleasant. The claim of the detective always has been that a detective should be considered equal in rank with a sergeant in the blue branch. The answer of the blue sergeants is that a detective, is not responsible for the control and discipline of other men, which is almost the whole of a sergeant's duty. Also the blue branch.of the force N deny ihat the detectives are more able than the members of the uniform branch, or that the members of 'the plain-clothes branch are appointed to that branch because of their ability-. The only interest of the public in all this is that there shall be no slackening of the work of criminal investigation which the detectives have to do.