THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND AND THE POLICE.

Southland Times, Issue 755, 27 November 1867, Page 3

THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND AND THE POLICE.

After the hearing of a perjury case at Lancaster assizes, in August last, the accused being a policeman in the Manchester force, the Lord Chief Justice said : — I think it only, right to state that even in immaterial matters the police ought to be extremely careful. Whether material or immaterial to the issue, they are in a position of great responsibility, and they ought to be most accurate in every statement that they make, whether it is for or against whom they prosecute. It is a great misfortune that very often the conduct of cases for the prosecution is left to the police, and t think it right to say publicly, and in the presence of the police, that they can never be too careful in any case where there is the sb'ghtest doubt, not to say anything which they do not believe to be the fact, but confine themselves strictly and accurately to what they see and know. I also desire to remark publicly, that I have known many instances in which the police, in giving their evidence, have not stated that which is in favor of the prisoner ; and I wish to be understood that it is the duty of the police in every case to state not only what they know in favor of the prosecutor but even to volunteer what they know in favor of the prisoner. That I wish every policeman most clearly to understand ; and in every instance that has come before me in which the policeman has kept back anything in favor of the prisoner, I have always endeavored to impress on those in authority that it is a thing to be discouraged, and that policemen, instead of meriting reward for such conduct, placed themselves in a position for which they ought to be reprimanded. The police ought to be especially careful in every instance never in any way to depart from the truth, and never to conceal anything in favor of a prisoner.