A PLEASING REFORMATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9058, 18 February 1908, Page 4

A PLEASING REFORMATION.

Time was, and not so long ago, that when a policeman placed hn hand upon the shoulder of a suspected person that person was condemned so far as the police were capable of condemning him. The aim appeared to be to justify the arrest and to secure a record of convictions. To this end it was no uncommon thing for the police to sjppress evidence which would tell in favour of the accused, and we have known an instance in which a witness who could have exonerated a prisoner was actually spirited away by the official accusers. The circumstance came to light ultimately, and the chief offenders were 1 punished. Happily such a state of things dpes not obtain to-day in this dominion, and our police are as humane and honourable as any other section of officialdom. It was formerly, too, a common \ ractice to worry released convicts so that tney had perforce to resort to crime as their only hope of gaining a livelihood. Gradually the old order of things has been swept away, and although some improvements still remain to be effected, the police force to-day and its administration compare favourably with the personnel and management of probably any police establishment in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a striking illustration of the change for the better that has taken place when we find police officors, detectives and constables associating thtmselves with such a society as that established in Wellington for the aid of discharged prisoners. We learn with pleasure that the Prisoner's Aid Society since its establishment has had no single authenticated instance brought under its notice of police interference with prisoners after lea\ing the gaol. This is entirely as it should be. There is one point upon which we would like to see immediate amendment in the methods of the police, and that is in the matter of netting probationary constables—or at any rate permitting them—to encourage offences in order to have the offenders punished. It is not an unusual thing in the cities to find probationers urging persons to sell them liquor and then taking proceedings against the vendors for the offence they have egged them on to commit. This kind of thing is done also in regard to other matters, and is utteily contemptible. It ought indeed to constitute in a criminal offence in itself. The honour of the police force will always be dulled while such practices are permitted.