POLICE SYSTEM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 224, 21 September 1934, Page 9

POLICE SYSTEM.

EXAMINATION TESTS

STANDARD VI. PAPERS.

LACK GF CRIME LITERATURE. OPPCKTUNITY FOR STUDY. V. Yearly examinations conducted for the rank of sergeant, senior sergeant and sub-inspector have been the subject recently of comment by members of the force. Although it is. realised that the series of lectures which is to be initiated shortly by University men will help city officers, it is pointed out that the man in the provincial town, where there is not so much pressure of work, has more opportunity to study than the officer in the city. It is a police force regulation that no man shall sit for any examination until he has served for seven years. When last year's examinations were completed the Commissioner of Police announced to the force that rfome of the papers showed careful reading on the part of candidates, but in many cases the standard reached was disappointing. In the examination for sub-inspsctor nine candidates succeeded and eight failed, for senior sergeant six succeeded and three failed, and for sergeant 11 succeeded aj»d 12 failed. A detective sits for the same examination as a constable, and the examinations cover "Prescribed Statutes," "Police Force Act and Regulations," and "Police and Detective Duties," as well as arithmetic, English and geography. The standard for literary subjects is about that of the sixth standard tests for primary school pupils. The examiners last year were Mr. W. G. Riddell, retired magistrate, of Wellington, who dealt with the papers on "Prescribed Statutes," Inspectors Sydney Rawle and James Cummings, who marked the papers on "Police Force Act" and "Police and Detective Duties," and Mr. R. Darroch, formerly headmaster of the Terrace School, Wellington, who dealt with the literary subjects.^ Wide Range of Questions. Questions are set for the examinations from the Gaming Act,' the Arms Act, the Crimes Acti ihe Police Force Act, the Police Offences Act, the Licensing Act, the Justices of the Peace Act, the Immigration Restriction Act, the Fugitive Offenders Act, the Motor Vehicles Act and others, together with the regulations under the Police Force Act, which number 553. The standard of the examination set under these Acts is high and the papers are, in some cases, found exceedingly difficult. Some examples of the type of questions asked give an idea of the standard required in the literary subjects. On the paper for last year's sergeant's examination candidates were asked how they would deal with the following:— (a) Footprints of an offender in snow; (b) a horse shoe print in soil; (c) a footprint in sand; and (d) a tyre mark on a soft earth road. One candidate fondly believed that to preserve a footprint in snow the only thing necessary was to cover it over with a box! Some of the questions -set for the sub-inspector's examination, which is the senior paper, also are interesting. "Two kinds of grass seed are mixed in the ratio of 31b to 51b of another — that is, in the proportion of 3 to 5. How much of each seed will be in scwt of the mixture?" "By selling a horse for £46, I gain 15 per cent; what must I sell it for to gain 25 per cent?" And, in the geography paper, "Say where the following towns are situated, and state one point of interest about each: Hongkong, .Adelaide, Malta, Sheffield, Durban, Calcutta, Geelong, Southampton, Ottawa, Cairo. Describe the towns you would visit in a journey from New Zealand to London, via Vancouver." Simple English Tests. One task in the English paper was: — "Write an essay of about 300 to 500 words on one of the following subjects: Place of athletics in education, use and abuse of books, machinery and unemployment,, any character in fiction, the British Merchant Service." The candidates were also asked to combine a lengthy sentence into one sentence, to convert a passage from direct, to indirect narration, and to punctuate.. They were required to give one -word to express the meaning of each of the following: Able to be seen, looking at fixedly, a person travelling on foot, any artificial defensive work. There is divided opinion in the force on the value of these examinations. One matter that invariably crops up in discussions on examinations is the fact that the police have no library in Auckland stocked with all available literature on criminals, crime and its detection. Polico journals are published in Australia and England, but none are filed in Auckland. They contain much valuable information that would be of considerable aid in crime detection in New Zealand. The Police Department does not supply these papers, which are published quarterly, to its members. It merely circularises members of the force telling them that if they want the journals they can have them sent from England at a cost of 7/ a year. There are few men who take advantage of the Department's generous offer. Science and Crime. From time to time it has been suggested that there should be a police library equipped with every available book on crime. As each new book on crime detection is published, whether it be American, English or a translation from a foreign tongue, it should be added to a library. Now that science is being so much used in the war against the criminal, the need is more urgent than ever for the study by detectives of modern methods. There is any amount of literature on subjects such as pathology and its relation to crime, ballistics and crime detection and every other phase of detection. If such a library were established, young men.; eager to push forward to the top of the tree and success coiild, in their spare time, study methods of detection in other countries and learn and improve themselves by absorbing the methods of brilliant detectives in other lands. From time to time New Zealand men, after a trip to Australia or abroad, have made suggestions for improvements in the force. They have been thanked by the courteous commissioner, who has expressed pleasure that the men are taking an interest in their work. But nothing has happened. (To be continued.). w