Modern Police Equipment Needed For City Station

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 238, 8 October 1945, Page 4

Modern Police Equipment Needed For City Station

CTATEMENTS made by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, and the Commissioner of Police Mr J. Cummings, to delegates to the tenth SIS conference of the New Zealand Police Association in Welling on, outlining the steps that were to be taken to build up the present depleted'police force into a modern pnd efficient service, which would have the assistance of the latest scientific aids for the detection of crime are warmly welcomed by members of both uniform and detective branches in Auckland. Special reference to the proposed introduction of a teletype system and two-way radio in the service was made by the commissioner. A modern system of radio communication, enabling patrol cars to keep in constant touch with Auckland headquarter's, is badly At present the officers who man patrol cars which cruise about the city and suburbs are entirely dependent on information given to them over the telephone from the watch-house or detective office. Each half-hour the officer in charge of the patrol car telephones headquarters for reports of crimes committed or complaints received whereupon he sets out to investigate the matter. If cars were fitted with radio much valuable time would be saved. Praise From Judge It is in the Criminal Record Branch that the latest scientific equipment is needed. Excellent work has been done with the obsolete plant in use. In the Supreme Court at Auckland in April last Constable V. C. Naylor, in charge of the C.R.8., showed by means of violet-ray photographs that a number of cheques were forged, the photographs bringing up the original signatures which had been erased by acid and covered by the accuseds signatures. When sentencing the forger, Mr. Justice Callan said, "In my opinion Constable Naylor has done a very useful piece of work, and it is comforting to know the resources of modern science are used with skill by the officers of the law, and are not a monopoly of lawbreakers. But what the judge probably did not know was that the violet-ray equipment with which the good work was done was not the property of the police department, but Mr. Naylor s own plant! Pre-historic Phones So far as the Auckland headquarters station is concerned the greatest and most urgent need is a modern telephone system to replace the out-dated type at present in use. For many years there was only one telephone installed in the detective office where 40 men work. About two years ago a second phone was installed. Both are of the ordinary desk type, neither being fitted with an earphone attachment to facilitate the writing of long messages that are often taken. .An inter-house telephone system is urgently required in Auckland.

Among other needed improvements are a central bureau for the keeping of conviction lists; modern office equipment, stich as filing cabinets, for records which must be kept by detectives;- special rooms where suspected offenders can be interviewed: a staff of typists to perform much of the office work at present done by detectives, thereby enabling the latter to devote' more time to their work outside;' proper recreational facilities and residential a.uarters for single men who live in barracks; housing ,for married men transferred to Auckland; and transportation for men who start or leave duty at 5 a.m. daily. No Interview Room Not a single interview room is set aside at the central station. When a suspect is brought to the detective office he or she is questioned in either the main office or one of the smaller side rooms, where numerous detectives are working. To be questioned or interviewed in the presence of others is not fair to the suspect and inconvenient to the detective.

Most of the seven cars used by the Auckland police have mileages approximating 200,000. Recently two fairly good second-hand cars were received by the police from another Government Department, but the position is yet far from satisfactory. There are no proper facilities at the small garage at the rear of the station for the carrying out of running repairs or greasing, which must be done at the Post and Telegraph Department's garage or by private firms.

For many years members of the police force, particularly in Auckland, have performed most efficient work under trying circumstances and it is true to say it has been mainly enthusiasm for their work that has made this possible