POLICE FORCE INQUIRY

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27193, 10 November 1953, Page 6

POLICE FORCE INQUIRY

COMMISSION TO SIT TODAY OPENING OF HEARINGS AT WELLINGTON (From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, November 9. The Commission of Inquiry into allegations of misconduct recentlj>made against the Commissioner of Police (Mr E. H. Compton) and against the Police Force generally will open in Wellington tomorrow. Mr Justice Kennedy, a former Supreme Court Judge, constitutes the commission, and counsel assisting the commission is Mr C. Evans-Scott.

It is not known how long the hearing in Wellington will last, but the commission has indicated that other hearings will take place at Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin, as well as at any other places which may be necessary. The dates of these sittings outside Wellington have not been fixed. It is expected that most of the written submissions will be heard in Wellington, but the secretary of the commission (Mr T. J. Kennedy) would not say today what counsel were appearing or how much evidence would be heard.

The five charges the commission will investigate are that Mr Compton, while a senior-detective in 1944 and afterwards, tapped private telephones in his activities against bookmaking; that Mr Compton improperly had certain work done at his private house’ not required in the performance of his public duties; that certain bookmakers have over long periods given considerable sums of money to members of the Police Force as “hush” money; that there has been laxity in the administration of the country's licensing laws; and that some members of the Police Force have criminal records.