NEW ENGLISH SYSTEM

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1929, Page 18

NEW ENGLISH SYSTEM

LINKING' UP THE FORCE

For some considerable time now tho fteads of- tho Polico Dopartment in.. Great Britain; liavb tieon considering tho elaboration-of a system which serves to Jink up tho individual police patrols in different parts of. the country, so as to place th&ForcQ in a position to deal quickly, with' any .crisis. "Chief-^on-stable JVJ.Crawley, of the Newcastle City Police, has inaugurated a chain of polico boxes and ijedcstal call boxes at various vanta^a points in and around the town. These boxes are usually painted red, ina'kinf them stand out amid -less lurid surroundings. They are connected by telephone- with the central station, so that a constable on bis beat can in a moment call up for assistance or make any inquries he may desire. ■Added to this is the advantage that by means of a flashing light placed on the top of the boxes the attention of point and patrolling constables is drawn to the fact that they are wanted- on the telephone by headquarters to pick up instructions. In Newcastle, and other places these boxes are also used by people requiring police aid, attention by the ambulance;.or the firo brigade. Patrolling policemen report every halfhour to headquarters by telephone from the boxes on their beats, and it is by this means that a method of coalescence has been secured, so that the 1 central station can get, a squad of constables to any point around,the city with a minimum of delay.. The system proved extromely, successful, in many, towns, and is being adopted by other English cities as well as on the Continent and in America.

The system is generally known, so far as, Groat Britain is concerned, as the "Sunderland police box system," so called because the experiment was first tried in Sundcrlaiid. Under this system polico "huts" are erected on each beat, by means of which tho police officer oe ,the beat can get into touch with headquarters promptly by .telephone. Tho. now system has resulted in a considerable acceleration of tho wholo polico service, as the staff at headquarters in each of the cities, which has adopted the idea, has been so organised that men can be sent out at once by motor-car, armoured car, or motorcycle, as may be required, to deal with any emergency that may arise .within thd jurisdiction of that section of the Police Force.'■: ■; ; ' ; ': ;- ■•■:

The system has already been successfully established in quite a number of English and Scottish towns, the latest city to adopt the project in its entirety being-Manchester. That city has also decided to erect a commodious and up-to-date central police headquarters in Jackson ?s ; . Epw,..which■■ will be regarded as tKe ; " Scotland Yard" of Manchester, and: whichji : coupled with' the jrolice box. syste.m, will .allow fp^a'inuch; better method of-nandlingVa crisis than is possible'iat pi'eaent. i 'In'the' Manchestersystem it is proposed to make the boxes sufficiently large to detain prisoners until tile arrival: of assistance, but in othe'rcentres it is merely a small pedestal telephone box, as shown on this pagejjiand there are only a few 'larger boxes'jin use on the central beats. ,

Iris Worcester, where the Bystem was inaugurated on Bth September last, a complete reorganisation of beats 'has been made, and the city is now ringed with/police ■ telephone boxes. The result has.UeenSa m&re».even distribution of policfr seryiees p :tlirt)ughout the city dur; ing the wh;6lej\v ; phty-four hours of each day^with, ;M£".added,,;advantage...;.;of] headquarters 'Being' in "frequent touch with its" constables patrolling outlying beats. Brighton, on the south coast of England, and Salford have also recently adopted the system, as have many other towns in the British Isles. 1

The work of accustoming the Force to nieet tho changed conditions has teen completed by means of a series of lectures", and practicEil tests, and the many Chief-Constables, who have been called upon to control similar systems, are all confident of success.. They, filaim that the new method is- more economical and more efficient than the 1 old, and will eliminate needless journeys by constables while, on' their ..beatsMtp. police stations to reportl and for meals. Brighton and .Salfordi- -estimate' that . there will be a saving of at least £5000 each year in each centroiby the adoption of tho system, while in Sunderland,'whore the system found its birth in 1923, there has been a net saving of £15,537, and five divisional police stations have been'closed. Where the new conditions prevail tho .constable goes straight; to, his beat, 1 ' telephoning on arrival, and doing: so at stated intervals during the period of his working day. Whore huts have been adopted provision is made for meals, so that the constable is on his beat during the whole of his period of duty. A-person wishing to get into immediate, touch with a police-, man, if he cannot-se_e;one in the street, ( goes to a police box'and is immediately j in communication with the central station, where b.is requirements "are attended to. By the system fewer men aro required for patrol York, thus leaving more men free for point duty, which is becoming a very important side of police duties in all parts of the world, and for detective work.

So farrl/ondpn has not adopted the system in its entirety, but many of the ideas "have" been applied to different parts of the city, and special telephones for police officers have been 1 in'use several; years. The latest elaboration ivas the erection of an observation lower in .Trafalgar Square, the scene of many great public meetings, which often cud" in more or less serious riots., This tower'has been erected at the east end and allows a, police officer to observe what is happening in "the square without danger. Narrow observation slits are constructed in the sides of the tower, which is built of granite, and the officer inside is in telephonic communication with Scotland- Yard, while a powerful .are lamp at-tho top of the tower makes it possible to carry out similar observation .work at night time.