THE POLICE FORCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 June 1939, Page 2

THE POLICE FORCE

EX-DETECTIVE’S CRITICAL SURVEY. PLEA FOR PROGRESSIVE REFORM. An earnest appeal for an improved organisation of the Police Force of the Dominion is made by Mr Charles Belton in “Outside the Law in New Zealand,” a copy of which has been received from the Gisborne Publishing Company Ltd. While he bears witness to the* faithful service rendered by members of the Police Force and to the high standards it sets in many respects, Mr Bellon maintains that there is great need of reorganisation in accordance with modern ideas and that much might thus be done, not only to establish more equitable and satisfactory conditions of service, but_,to open the way to higher efficiency. Although the title of the book is rather florid, the ideas of the author are set forth with modesty and moderation and are supported by a mass of ‘evidence, drawn from personal experience during some dozen years of police service, much of it in the detective branch, which is calculated to command attention. Mr Belton’s service ended in disappointment and .disillusionment, but he does not write as a man with a grievance. His concern is with the larger possibilities of a police system radically reformed and reorganised. Some sections only of the book are devoted to questions of reform, and to emphasising the need for "a greater understanding, a deeper meaning, in the Science of Police.” Mr Belton gives much of his space to the narratioh, in episodical chapters, of his experiences, in various parts of the Dominion in hunting down law-breakers and performing other details of police duty. Covering a wide range, these chapters have their full measure of interest. Though they deal in the main with shadowed and unhappy aspects of life, they, bear witness to an outlook of kindly humanity and an element of unforced humour is introduced at times with relieving effect. While he relies in great part upon a straightforward account of his own experience of police service in making out the case he has at heart, Mr Belton has engaged also in a methodical criticism of training methods and conditions, the conduct of examinations, the system of promotion and other details of police organisation. He modestly disclaims considering his book anything more than a small effort to stimulate public interest and observes that any suggestions he makes are but a foundation on which his readers may build. In fact, however, he offers an impressive body of evidence in support of his plea for improved conditions of police service and in particular for the substitution of a system of promotion by ' merit for one in which advancement depends almost entirely on seniority. The questions with which Mr Belton deals in informative details are of 'great moment, not only to members of the Police Force and those who may think of joining it, but from a wider standpoint of public interest and welfare. His book deserves to be widely read and considered.