A POLICEMAN'S DUTY.

NZ Truth, Issue 92, 23 March 1907, Page 4

A POLICEMAN'S DUTY.

Monday last: at the S.M. Court,' was a dull day. It' was a Government holiday and . Government servants are sp 4ired that their whole official liyes ought 'to- be gazetted as holidays. Being a holiday, there was little court business. Magistrate an.d Clerk of court were away at Ohristchurch, -and what there was to do was done as yell as the lim-; ited, untrained capacities of the Justices of the Peace permitted. Because it was an off-day is perhaps the reason why what little there was jn ifaei way of cases,, should/ "be charges of Street hooliganism— that kjnd of^ rough and rowdy conduct that tod Often In Wellington makes the public thoroughfares positively dangerous, m fact an open invitation to come and be murdered, to peaceable citizens. . All the cases that were before .the Court that day were street rows, and the facts In each (there were nearly half-a-dozen) show that Saturday night street raws are on the increase and not on the decrease, and that the police force ; is totally inadequate to afford that protection for which' 'it is paid and which is expected' of it. It 1 ik nothing short of a 'scandal. Certainly it tea refledtion on dunderhead Dinnie's administration of the " foorce : " that ,,a gang* of young,but hardened street • toughs, 'loaded to the tonsils wiiib beer or some other fight-inciting liquor, can hold us the' town, and that i one : solitary policeman has to be ; practically driven into the execution of his duty. This he does, with great danger to himself from the onslaught of the tough's ,'! cobbers," who are not particular whether it is "the boot" (it is seldom the hands) or a stone, or even a bottle' that is brougfft into action. The police that patrol Wellington's' v busy thoroughfares' at any time are totally inadequate to the requirements of the city. It is the fault of the Commissioner if a policeman one of these nights is brutally bashed. It is all very well for the police themselves to press for heavy penalties f pr ; . street rowdyism : If there was a stronß police force thus Saturday night evil would be greatly minimised, and the unprotected citizen would be perfectly satisfied. The drunken cowardly crowd who take possession of the town do not fear one policeman, but tw» or three would scare them into quietness. The police, too, have yet to learn that tact, not bounce, succeeds more than anything; else m controlling the unruly mob. A mob of human beings if requested quietly will disperse a great deal quicker than if ordered m a .rough gruff voice to shift their carcases, arid what is more the police m attempting to use bounce and bluff only fan the flames, and what was an unseemly loud-voiced argument i£ precipitated by an offensive policemen into a riot. There are some policemen, young members of the force, doing duty m Wellingtpn, who should learn to curb wlhatr seems to be un-srovernable tempers. They are brusque and even rude m their m&nner and methods, and Inspectpr Ellispn, who is m charge m Wellington, " ought to give a cpuple of these officious cops a severe rap over the knuckles. There are two young men m the force named Wright and If win, decent young chaps perhaps m private life, " but once In uniform they assume the airs of .^gjty command-giving generals. Wright haa earned the sobriquet of " Move-on-Wright " by his persistent habit of rushing everybody who halts a moment on the footpafth on to the road, and even then by his boorishness .' provokes a breach of the peace. Irwin is tarred with the same brush and there are others almost as bad. Everybody recognises how hard it is for a policeman to to his duty thprpughly. He is sure to ofT^nd somebody, but the somebody often happens to be the least offending individual. Complaints have been made to this paper concerning toth the ofifsers named, 1 and it loolcs. very much

as if the pair are case-hunting coppers. Their behaviour is rude and surly, and they ought to be taught by their superiors that it is not the duty of policemen to tantalise peac-ably-inclined. citizens into committing a breach of the peace. The policeman who sets out and seeks trodble generally finds it, and policemen do not get the sympathy of ever yliody. To suppress street rowdyism is what is expected of the police : not to encourage it, as some policemen do by their rudeness and officiousness.