THE DETECTIVE POLICE AND CRIME IN MELBOURNE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5377, 21 June 1878, Page 5

THE DETECTIVE POLICE AND CRIME IN MELBOURNE.

(From the Melbourne Herald.) For some reason, and doubtless a sound one, the Detective Department of the police force has not only fallen in popular estimation, but is viewed by the public with grave suspicion. From time to time spasmodic attempts have been made to reform the force. Increased pay to the men has been recommended as a panacea for ills that even the Chief Commissioner of Police could not fail to recognise. The augmented pay, however, left things pretty much as they were. The disorganisation of the office and the failure of the department to overtake crime have been glaringly apparent. .When crime has been detected, and the criminals brought to justice, there has been too frequently a strong , suspicion that, if not actually “put up,” the commission of , the crime has been suggested by the very ' detectives who have been instrumental in capturing the offenders. It is broadly asserted that, when times are dull, or, in other words, when the criminal classes are either incarcerated or idle in their vocations, the detectives have confidential agents who get up robberies and burglaries to order. Their secret agents are themselves members of the criminal class, who for the enjoyment of the temporary favor and good will of the detectives, not only concoct villainy—induce released prisoners to enter into robberies—but keep the detectives on the alert to all their movements, so as to secure their capture. It is stated that when these betrayed victims arc undergoing their trials, the informers who have led them into the snare assemble in the gallery of the Supreme Court to exult over their handiwork and amuse themselves with the detective’s evidence. There is nothing too base to attribute to the detective force. In the public mind this branch of the police force is credited with as much roguery as the men it is supposed to keep in awe. This may be too harsh a view, and it is probable that if the matter were sifted to the bottom, it would be found that some of - the detectives are wholly undeserving of suspicion or censure. The public mind, however, is apt to exaggerate the evils and visit the full measure of blame on every individual man of the force because of the disrepute into which the secret machinations of a few members have brought the force. It appears to us that, if public confidence is to be restored in the department, a searching inquiry into its management and organisation is essential. What is the aim and object of the State in supporting a detective department which is confessedly a necessary evil ? It is to capture criminals—clever rascals, who might evade the policeman in uniform, and dexterously escape from the colony. The detective, therefore, requires great intelligence, if not the possession of peculiar talent. He should be able to mingle unknown amongst all classes of society, and, from his observations and acuteness, to inform himself whether the “wanted" man is about. ■ In what way are our detectives employed 1 Are they in the smallest degree comparable to the well-known men of Scotland-yavd ? The question really excites a smile. The fact is, our detectives are not detectives at all in the true sense of the word. They are only policemen in plain clothes. They are sent out at night to patrol the streets—which is no part whatever of a detective’s ordinary duty —and they are sent up-country and kept in localities so long that they become as well recognised, as the most public man of / the place. With such ill-management can efficiency be expected from the body, or can the public wonder at the grievous failures of the officers to bring culprits to justice '! Some months ago a baby was stolen from the custody of Mr. Potts’s nurse girl, and, up to this date, no trace of this child has been discovered. Here a crime was committed of the most flagrant description in broad daylight, and the police were put upon the scent within a few minutes of its commission. It was precisely such an offence as the talent of the detective is required for. How comes it that the detective force could, and can, find no clue to the mystery ? Again, it is now weeks since a trooper was shot near Wangaratta and nearly killed by a well-known ruffian named Kelly—a companion of Power, the bushranger. We hear of no arrest being yet made. The criminal is at large, and apparently bids defiance to the force. Then we have the case of Fckhouse, a German swindler, who some weeks since fleeced the mercantile community of about £2OOO. The Detective Department was put in motion, but so far without result, the general impression being that he left the colony with calm deliberation and without impediment. If those who profess to understand the inker working of the Detective Department are asked to account for these manifest failures on the part of the force, their answer is by no means flattering to the skill of the officers. They affirm that the reason the criminals in the above cases have not been arrested is that the crimes were not “ put up.”They occurred to the perpetrators without collusion with detectives’ agents, and, therefore, the entire force is baffled. Wo have no desire to write harshly of a body of men, some of whom bear unexceptional reputations as straightforward, vigilant officers, but we do not hesitate to declare our conviction, based on valuable information placed at our disposal, that the entire management of the detective branch is defective and rotten ; that a full and searching inquiry is needed ; that a sweep-, ing reform is essential, and that the entire department requires remodelling, We shall endeavor to follow up the subject by suggesting the direction which reform should take.