Shawcross Asks For Ombudsman

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30478, 27 June 1964, Page 13

Shawcross Asks For Ombudsman

(N.Z. Press Association-Copyright)

LONDON, June 25.

Machinery for independent investigation of complaints against the police of Britain has been urged by the British section of the International Commission of Jurists, “The Times” reports.

The section said in its annual report yesterday that it was difficult to understand how the findings of the tribunal on the Sheffield police (the rhino whip case) had failed to prove beyond doubt the need for such machinery.

The section described the tribunal’s report as “probably the most revealing of its kind to be published.” Public opinion had not been prepared for the degree of “covering up and indifference” on the part of senior police officers.

A warning was given that in spite of the recently introduced police bill it still may be no remedy for the man who has been wrongly convicted as a result of some form of police malpractice. The facts about Sheffield might never have been brought to light had it not been for the public spirit and determination of a local solicitor and an editor, it added.

That inquiry followed allegations by two men that they had- been beaten with a rhino whip to make false confessions. Several senior members of the Sheffield police force later resigned. In an introduction to the report, a former AttorneyGeneral, Lord Shawcross, described last year as one which "cannot be said to have enhanced the confidence of the British people in their executive, judicial or police administration,” “The Times” reported. Lord Shawcross said the appoinment of a Parliamentary Commissioner or Ombudsman would be the most beneficient of law reforms.