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OUR POLICE FORCE.
fear customary to characterise the police
force as " a fine body of men." Looking
at. the force from a physical standpoint,
We are not going to dispute this gener
ajfy'ttsserted statement.. But we would
ask, if. physical power all that is required
eye as constable P. is a well-built frame,
with powerful muscles, and a knowledge
Of drill,, sufficient enables policeman
s perform all' that is required of him by I
fear,. and: to draw the line at the point J
After the constable's duties end and the
assistants rights begin £ We think, not
1|t¡s>couJd give instances in which the ng.
nominee or, over, officiousness of, police
notables have been the means of proper
Afric injury is wrongfully accused and'
Adults, ??'
Wte.lpçMk drawback testing. efficiency
, of the force, as at present constituted,
i appears to us to be the youth and knew
j perience of the recruits taken on of late I
' years. We are quite prepared to admit
that young, vigorous, and robust men
are an acquisition to any such force. But
; we think a minimum age should be fixed
say twenty-four or twenty-five years
under which no application for admission
should be entertained. We think it will
be apparent to anyone who has seen much
of the proceedings at our police courts
that the majority of the arrests for the
! fling offences are made by newly-fledged
j constables, anxious to get up a case and
show the authorities that they are doing
something for their pay. The question has
often O' curred to us, and we dare say
to others also. Are these recruits required
to be thoroughly conversant with
a constable's duties before they are sent
out to perambulate the streets ? We believe
they are not. We understand their
term of probation extends over a period
of a few days only, after which they are
sworn in and turned out on duty, with a
burning desire to serve their country, and
to make a clean sweep in the haunts of
crime at the first opportunity-the same
as any other new Ji»room. In the old
country there is a catechism of police
duties which has to be thoroughly
mastered by every candidate for admission
to the force. Nothing of the kind
prevails here. Nor, so far as we can
ascertain, is any attempt made by the
superior officers of the force to find out
whether the new hands are properly
acquainted with the duties they are required
to perform. As long as they know
their drill, and are strong enough to
" run a man in," they generally manage
to pull through, and the authorities are
satisfied.
We do not want to be understood to
say that all the members of the force,
nor, in fact, any considerable number of
them, are illiterate, officious, or ignorant
of their duties. There are many police-
men in Perth and other parts of the
colony, who are intelligent, efficient, and
in every way a credit to the organisation
to which they belong. We merely object
to putting boys and ignoramuses into
positions where they may show their
authority and their ignorance both of
which are generally found in combination
-to the detriment instead of the safety
of the public, and often to the hardship
of individuals.
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