TEMPORARY POLICE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3027, 14 March 1917, Page 8

TEMPORARY POLICE

REASONS FOR APPOINTMENT

NO CHANGE OF POLICY STATEMENT BY THE HON. A. L. HERDMAN. Some comment made in the leading columns of a Christchuich newspaper concerning the enrolment of temporary police constables was referred to the Alinister in Charge of Police, the Hon. A. L. Herdmau, by a Dominion reporter yesterday. The paper stated that from advertisements in the newspapers' calling for temporary police it was to bo assumed that the Police. Department, which for so long opposed the enlistment of policemen of eligible age, had been compelled by public opinion to reverse its attitude. The Minister denied the accuracy of that [■statement; the Poiico Department, he said, had not reversed its attitude. Jlr. Herdmau went on to say that police constables were not allowed to enlist because they could not bo spared. "I w;ould gladly let them go," he said, "if I thought the Dominion, with any degree of safety, could let' them do so, but so long as we have persons in tho country who are prepared to tiiik sedition, make mischief, and practise I.WAV. methods, I am bound to keep within it a number of trained men sufficient to cope with any outbreak of disorder. "Wo are obliged to employ temporary constables because the numerical strength of the Police Force has .been gradually sinking since the outbreak of war. Except for some special reason, we cannot take on single men of military age, and married men within the age limit prescribed by the regulations arc difficult to procure. "Tho Police Training Depot has been closed because we have no men to train. Accordingly we have been driven to enlist the services of men who do not comply with regulation conditions, as temporary constables. Before the outbreak of war the jwlicc strength was no greater than it should have been, and since that date the duties of the police have been greatly multiplied. They make inquiries about enemy subjects, enemy property, discharged soldiers wanting employment, deserters under the Military Service Act, persons wanting permits and passports, and persons wno are alleged to bo trading with the enemy.

"I know well enough how keen the men are to servo their country in the field of battle, but as we cannot make capable police officers in a. week or in a month it seems to be necessary in the interests of public safety that a small force of trained men should be kept within tlio Dominion.

"If serious disorder did take place in Now Zealand, and there was a lack of trained policemen to deal with it, tho public and the Press would very naturally blame the Department for having allowed police to enlist."