ELSIE WALKER’S DEATH

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 105, 28 January 1929, Page 12

ELSIE WALKER’S DEATH

POLICE SECRECY CRITICISED By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, January 26. Commenting editorially on the Coroner’s finding on the Elsie Walker inquest, the “New Zealand Herald” states: “The Suprintendent of Police would be well advised to carry out the suggestion of the inquiry concerning the methods of the police in handling the ease. The hint of uncertainty in the interpretation of the regulations suggests a ground for a more general inquiry l . It is surely against common’sense that casual witnesses and a constable should be the only ones to see the body discovered in such circumstances before it was disturbed. If the regulations allow that, then their adequacy should be questioned. More than that, since there were plain hints of divergent views among the police officers about this inquiry, the proposed investigations might be still wider in its scope. The staffing organisation and the spirit of the force could also be examined. _ “It is no secret that there is a restiveness and discontent in the service. Attention should be drawn to the too pernicious system that has grown up in recent years of cloaking everything possible the police are doing with all the secrecy that can be secured. There are occasions when publicity cannot be given police activities, or the details of the cases they are handling, there are others where publicity would be a great ally. Instances could be quoted in which vain-' able evidence has been volunteered because the people offering it realised that the information was valuable. The police have tended in . recent years to conceal what they did not .wish known by concealing all they could. It has often hampered them, and has not helped to inspire the public with confidence in their doings.”