POLICE AND BETTING

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 December 1936, Page 12

POLICE AND BETTING

THE N.S.W. SCANDAL. SYDNEY, December 3. The New South Wales Police Force had a second severe blow within a few weeks when Judge Markell, sitting as a Royal Commission, delivered his report on allegations against police in starting-price betting actions, finding thirteen guilty and criticising nine others. The Government immediately ordered the suspenison of the whole twenty-two, and the thirteen guilty officers were dismissed the next day. The inquiry, Judge Markell said, revealed a state of things which was exceedingly serious and which must have a very disturbing effect on the mind of the community. Apart from his findings on specific charges police, Judge Markcll recommended amendments to the Gaming and Betting Act designed to prevent a repetition of what he described as the present unsatisfactory state of things. These recommendations, which will be considered by the Cabinet when the promised amending Bill js being drafted, include: —That the minimum amount of penalty for breaches of the Act be left to the discretion of Magistrates as is done in the Totalisator Act; that dissemination of racing information by telephone or breadcasting in hotels be prevented; that, where possible, police should proceed by way of summons; that police should not at any time enter the homes of private citizens in connection with the suppression of starting-price betting until a warrant for search has been obtained: that police agents should never be employed in the suppression of illegal betting; that police should always check their information with regard to convicted persons when repotting on them, and should state the source of their information. Judge ’ Markell‘"includes the saving remark that there appears no reason to believe that the irregular practices are general. “The evidence of Commissioner Mackay and Sergt. Keefe,” he adds, “shows that every endeavour has been made to ensure that the law is properly enforced with a due regard to the rights of private citizens. According to Mr. Mackay, 75 per cent, of the populace sees nothing wrong in stai ting-price betting. Inspector Russell thinkt this figure is too low. The result is that police, so far from getting assistance from the public, meet with hostility, or, at the best, passive resistance. Though illegal betting is heavily punishable by law, it carries no disgrace in the minds of the general I community. In these circumstances,' perhaps, the conscience of certain members of the police engaged in this duty has been blunted, and, acting upon the principle that the end justifies the means, they have failed to appreciate the seriousness of interfering in an unwarranted manner with -the liberties of the individual, or even of telling falsehoods in order to procure the convitcion of persons, who, they feel, are guilty of an offence to which no moral stigma attaches. s Though all these matters must be borne in mind, in looking at the position as a whole, nevertheless, the fact remains that members of the 1 public have been convicted upon perjured evidence, and that certain police officers have been shown to be guilty of conduct unworthy of the trust that is placed in them by the ■ community.”