WOMEN POLICE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 68, 17 September 1930, Page 15

WOMEN POLICE

ARE THEY-"FIT AND ABW ?

.Quoting a legend- inscribed in the main hall of the Old Bailey, that "Uight lives by law find law subsists by power," Mr. -H. Alker' Tripp, assistant-secretary afc. Scotland Yard, says in an article in the "Nineteenth Century": Pailuro to provide the muscular arm would- instantly depreciate the credit of the law. Advocates -of> the employment of women may naturally argue that the law is poorly enforced if it is enforced by mere fisticuffs, and that moral suasion in this enlightened age is infinitely better. There is' not a doubt of itj tho police well know tho value of tact. At the same time, once tho moral suasion has been entered on, there can be no halting or turning back if it docs not succeed. Compromise is not possible; tho will of tho; community must be flatly imposed npon the individual, whether ho likes it or not. If the moral suasion of the police fails, as-at times it must, force must be available, and must be used. A constable does not satisfy the legal requirements regarding his post unless ho is "fit and able" to apply that physical force. The police constable thus represents the physical power of the law, and womou do not represent the physical power of the species. The radical disability on tho part of! ordinary women to act as constables is therefore obvious; a disability which no argument, so far, ■ has iv any way discounted.

If, on the other hand, women enter the force as women and remain distinctive and original, then the accession represents a totally new factor, likely to prove of quite unprecedented value. If, therefore, the police service can get women who really are women, and will bring the independent outlook and shrewd counsel which a sensible wife brings to her husband, then, indeed, the service may benefit exceedingly.