SCOTLAND YARD

Hokitika Guardian, 22 July 1929, Page 7

SCOTLAND YARD

HEADQUARTERS OF THE FINEST POLICE. HUNDRED YEARS OF HISTORY. DETECTIVES IN FACT AND FICTION. To everybody the words “Scotland Yard” at once suggest the detective of tact or fiction. It may be the impossible Lestrade driving down the Baker Street to ask Holmes to pull him out of his difficulties; it may be E'dgar Wallace’s “Flying Squad;” or it may be the men who in real life, with infinite patience, wove the net round the murderers of Constable Gutteridge. (The name suggests Crime and mystery —all the interest of the criminal putting himself against the law, all the excitement of a man hunt. But Scotland Yard is really much more than this. It is the headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police, and that police force has served as a model for the other police systems of Britain, and for those of the Dominions. Scotland Yard is the centre, or the epitome, of the finest police force in the world. It controls not merely the detective inspector who is sent hot-foot to solve a mystery in a gloomy country house in Surrey, but the constable on dnty at whose hand signal all traffic stops, and the constable in Hyde Bark who keeps handy to some mouthing anarchist lest he, the anarchist, should come to some harm. Scotland Yard therefore stands as a symbol of law and order, of that respect for law and order and for the rights of accused persons, which we believe is typically British, anil of that mixture of good humour and sternness which is so efficient as a working system. THE BAD OLD DAYS.

Britons accept this system as part of Nature. They trust and admire their police. They take a pride in their quiet masterfulness, their reluctance to use force, and their fairness to prisoners. But it is really quite a mistake to suppose that the police have always been like this. It is only a hundred years since the London Metropolitan Police, the system on which others were modelled, was established by Peel, and it was an admirable idea of the publishers of the excellent Whitehall Series of hooks of government Departments to issue “Scotland Yard”* in this centenary year. Written by a highly placed official of the force, this volume gives an authoritative account of the rise, development and working of a system of which Britain may well he proud. It is a very valuab’e footnote of history, for it she,vs how infinit has been the improvement in the enforcement of law and order in the <iOrir.sc of a century, and how through that period, by a combination of good luck and wise government, the police systems of Britain have become efficient and at the same time have won the confidence of the people. Before Peel’s reforms the police Systems were almost incredibly inefficient. Dogberry, in “Much Ado About Nothing,” is nol a very wild-caricature of the oldfashioned watchman. In the Regency days it was part of the sport of “young bloods” to assault these forerunners of the police. The Gordon Riots showed how utterly ineffective was non-milit-ary provision for the protection of life and property. “One • hundred years ago London was a City of Dreadful Night,” says a present-day writer. “Law and order were almost non-exist-ent, and criminals of all classes roamed the highways and robbed with impun-' ity. There was one criminal to every 22 persons.” There were then 1000 policemen in a population of 900.000. Today there are 19,300 policemen in a population of 7,800,000, and it is estimated that there is one criminal in every 500 pesons. The Bow Street runners were effective in some respects but they worked on a system of “blood money” that had most objectionable features. They would keep a man under observation until he committed a more serious crime, so that they could draw a higher reward. THE FETISH OF LIBERTY.

Yet, so strong is the British passion .'or personal and political liberty that Peel’s proposal to establish a metropolitan police force was opposed on the ground that it would encroach on popular liberties. A committee of inquiry actually reported that it would be impossible “to reconcile any effective system of police with that perfect freedom of action and exemption from interference which was one of the great privileges and blessings of seciety in this country.” One reason for this opposition was the fear that the new police were, for political spying. Peel’s police had to live down this suspicion. Peel, a sensible man, told the Duke of Wellington that his idea was to “teach. people that liberty does not consist in having your house robbed by organised gangs of thieves.” and after some years he got his way. T+ wa-s on the evening of September 29. 1829, that the new force, in their blue tail-coats and top hats, made their first appearnce in London, amid the jeers of the populace. They were armed with staves, which proved "to lie a very wise choice. From the first the new force was non-military, and the

fact that the policeman on all ordinary occasions worked without the aid of sword or pistol probably did more than anything else win the confidence of the public. In the intervening hundred years the force has conic into conflict with public opinion on many occasions, there have been police scandals, aiid even police strikes. Of course, a high standard of. efficiency could not be reached in a day. Experience had to be bought, and changes had to 0e made in recruiting, pay, conditions and administration. Only a- year or so ago public confidence was 'shaken by certain happenings, and another Police Cbmniission was appointed. Though its report recommended alterations in procedure, it vindicated the police. The report illustrates afresh the differences between English and Continental methods, which make the English policeman’s task more difficult. Such questions as the right to “lay traps” and the right to question remain unsettled. Popular prejudice against the detective died hard; when the new detective bureau was formed in 1869 the Polico Commissioner declared that a doetective system was “entirely foreign to the habits and feelings of the nation.” The detective had to prove himself just as the constable had done. By the way, the Commissioner has nearly always been a military man, and the highest posts in the service are not open to the ranks. RECRUITING DETECTIVES.

Judging by Mr Edgar Wallace’s sales, these are not the habits and feelings of the nation to-day. The author or this history thinks that the change in the public attitude towards tine detective has been helped by the vogue of the detective story, “which has cost a halo of romance and adventure round an occupation which used to be regarded, as its best, as that of a Paul Pry.” But he has a cold douche for those who asnire to pass straight into tindetective ranks. Twice in the history of the London police was the experlneut of appointing “gentlemen detectives” tried, but these men were failures—“no doubt from want of a preliminary training as policemen”— md for fifty years it has been the invariable rule to recruit detectives from ordinary constables. To-day, however, tiie pay and prospects are such as to attract men of higher social standing and better education. Lately there has been a sprinkling of public school ooys, and even one of two University graduates. So ihat the public schoo* Scotland Yard detective who is now appearing in fiction, a type that makes •npular love interest easier to construct. has some basis in fact. A CLASSIC CASE.

Those who expect to find in this hook leusauonal accounts of crime detection will be disappointed. It is a sober hisorv of a really great national achievement, probably the greatest of the kind the world has seen. For one thing, the detection of serious crime is only one of the many duties of the. Metropolitan Police, and its glamour may easily detract attention from what is really the most remarkable feature of the police system, that the average citizen looks on the policeman as a friend, and the policeman does not use a giant’s strength tyrannouslv. But some details are given that will interest the “ thriller ” addict..; The* inger-print system is described. It came from the, East, and was developed by Englishmen. Thousands of prints are added every year to Scotland Yard’s collection, and the one anxiety of the Yard is to keep the number down The book closes with a most interesting account of the Gutteridge case, which is a classic for several reasons—the enormous amount of nolice work involved, the sheer stupidity of the criminals, the application of a- new scientific test, and the perils to which policemen are exposed. (It was only by good luck that a second policeman was not shot.) The test in question is peculiarly interesting. Every automatic leaves its own “fingerprint ” on the cartridge, and a cartridge used by the killers of Constable Gutteridge was found to correspond with the revolver. Science is ever making the way of the criminal more difficult.