THE POLICE CENTENARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 124, 28 May 1929, Page 6

THE POLICE CENTENARY.

The celebration of the centenary of the establishment of the London police force has just been marked by a parade of thirteen thousand policemen, who marched past the Prince of Wales in Hyde Park. The Metropolitan police force to-day is universally regarded as the finest anywhere, and it is curious to reflect that when it was established a hundred years ago by Sir Robert Peel it met with considerable opposition, jlt replaced the old system of watchmen, whose proceedings were a constant theme of mockery. Young swells about town would figure as popular heroes by knocking down at fisticuffs the last generation of old-fashioned watchmen and carrying off their rattles and staves as trophies. The legislators of the eighteenth century were scared by the frequency and immunity of crime, but they had no remedy except the creation of fresh capital felonies every session. It never occurred to them to find a substitute for the fumbling old watchmen, who preserved unimpaired the traditions of Dogberry and Verges. The new police secured the success of the reform of the criminal law. They also helped Peel to avoid a serious collision between the forces of Government and the working-class agitators. If there had been "Peelers" in Manchester in 1819, or in Bristol in 1831 there would Have been no Peterloo and no burning of Bristol. For three days the rioters at Bristol were left to their work of destruction because soldiers had to be brought from Cardiif to quell the riot. Peel urged his police to avoid violence wherever possible, and the English police force is unarmed, whereas on the Continent the police carry swords. The old watchmen were known as "Charlies," and the new police came to be known as "Bobbies," or "Peelers," after their founder, Sir Robert Peel. The English people look to the police to help them in many ways that lie outside their strictly official duties. In London they are regarded as walking directories, they help the old and the timid to get across the street, they take charge of lost children, and often give wise counsel to the inexperienced who find themselves entangled in the temptations of a large city. The "Evening News" may well say that the London police force is the finest thing of its kind civilisation has produced. —W.M.