DIAL 999

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 797, 29 October 1954, Page 13

DIAL 999

SCOTLAND YARD, by Sir Harold Scott, Commissioner of the Metropolitan’ Police, 1945-53; Andre Deutsch, English price 16° -. HE pul) of the words Scotland Yard is strengthened here by the authority of the author, When the Home Secretary, Mr. Herbert Morrison, decided in the last year of the war that in the public interest the mititary tradition in the choice of Commissioner of the Metronolitan Police should be departed from, he picked Sir Harold Scott from Aircraft Production. This book is a record of Sir Harold’s term of. office, and an account of every department in his command. After the war, the nolice had to face an increase in crime with a force well below strength. Recruiting was its gravest trouble, and. with so many other openines for young men, it seems to be so still. The man "nounding the beat" remains the foundation of a service that crows ever more complex. Sir Harold tells us what he did to improve the policemans lot. and takes us right through the organisation, from petty crime to homicide, from traffic control to finger-prints and the forensic laboratory, from gaming houses to the protection of Marshal Tito, Even the training of police horses and dogs is covered. From the chapter on women police, we learn that these are now completely accepted by the once suspicious men. Every year the equipment of the police grows more formidable, Today's burglar.is liable to be surprised on the job by nolice who have been. called to the scene by an automatic alarm device that rings 999 and announces the address and the burglar’s presence, In 1948 an attempt to steal bullion from an airport store was thwarted through "infor. mation received," and the whole gang caught, but a few weeks aeo another attempt succeeded. In the 1948 case. as if other foilings, policemen acted as decove, © service which. since there is a risk of savage assault, calls for cold courage. Crime cases of many kinds are cited, including some that have hit the world’s headlines, The principle laid down at the foundation of the modern force that the policeman is the friend, not the enemy,

of the people, is carefully maintained, and dramatic examples are given here of the citizen’s co-operation. This is an structive and encouraging book.

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