POLICE ORGANISATION.

Evening Star, Issue 14117, 21 July 1909, Page 2

POLICE ORGANISATION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—At the request of the editor of the ' Evening Star' I wrote a series of articles on the features of the evidence and what they pointed to at the last Royal Commission touching the robberies from the D.I.C. Turning up my notes, I find the same disorganisation now as was apparent then—viz., the divided authority between the uniform and the plain-clothes constables. While the inspector is in town the detective police do not look upon the sub-inspector as their superior officer. In consequence, he knows nothing of the cases under investigation, and which may be and are accumulating from time to time. Should the inspector leave town, tho sub-inspector, in taking charge, is thus placed at a great disadvantage while assuming the inspector's responsibilities. "I knew nothing of the robberies till the arrest of ," said Sub-inspector Green, and this while he was in charge during the inspector's absence. Here is gross breach of discipline : if the sub-inspectors arc thus ignored, of what use are they? Usurping the authority of others is a very reprehensible procedure in all disciplined forces, and none more so than in the Police Force. In my time everything went through the inspector, and Mr Wefdon supervised the whole, just the same ?s Mr Inspector O'Brien does now. We all worked in unison, and there was not that jealousy between the two branches—-plain-clothes and uniform—vis the recent evidence has disclosed. The four population centres in the Dominion prevent the plain clothes branch from becoming a separate branch, because we are still faced with the question of subordination, let a one the expense of creating a new set 0 f officers, each antagonistic—in a police sense, j unl0 r and senior—to the other, there seems to bo no system of examination for qualifying from constable's to sergeant s rank, nor from sergeant's to subinspector's. From what I saw of the men, they seem well fitted for their duties. Good magistrates make good policemen, and we, m Dunedin at any rate, seem fairly well served. With your permission, sir, I may return to tho subject again We must all uphold law and order—l am July 20. F ***™« MAiiABB. '