POLICE EFFICIENCY PRAISED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22406, 13 August 1947, Page 5

POLICE EFFICIENCY PRAISED

TRIBUTE BY M.P.’S SOLVING CRIMES FEW ESCAPE NET | WOMEN’S VALUABLE WORK j (P.R.) WELLINGTON. Aug. 13. “There are at present one or | two eases that have not been solved, but we arc very hopeful ! they will be solved and that j those guilty of very serious i crimes will be found and made to answer for their crimes,’’ suid the Prime Minister, Mr. P. ' Fraser, in the House of Eeprcsentatives yesterday when moving the second reading of the Police Force Bill. Mr. Fraser said that New Zealand was fortunate in its police force.. One clause of the bill provides for a penalty of three months’ imprisonment, or a line of £SO, for impersonation of a member of the police force, and gives the right to any constable to arrest without warrant any such impersonator. Discussing this clause, the Prime Minister said it was easy to imagine the serious consequences of the impersonation of a police offeer by a criminallyminded person, or even a person with a mistaken idea of a joke. Political Activities Questioned by Opposition members on a clause excluding members of the force from participating in politics otherwise than bv voting, Mr Fraser said his interpretation was that the bill did not prevent any policeman from being a member of a political party, but did prevent him from taking any active part in an election campaign. Other new clauses, he said, provided lor the appointment of a magistrate to committees ot inquiry on police matters, enabled particulars of the identification of a person in custody to be taken at police stations as well as at prison, reviewed the period for which police were required to hold lost property before auction, enabled the temporary exchange of members of the force with police officers of Australian States and decreed the New Zealand Police Gazette a confidential State document to preclude its use for blackmail.

“The introduction of women to the New Zealand police force lias been an unqualified success.” said Mr C. G. G. Harker tOppos Hawke’s Bay), who joined with the Prime Minister in paying a tribute to the force. He suggested that the numbers of women police might be augmented. The Prime Minister: They have dene a splendid job Work in which they had been specially valuable was the prevention of crime among girls and women said Mr Harker. Retirement Age Discussing a clause providing for the retirement of police officers at the age of G 5, he said that while realising the necessity for this at present, he hoped that members of the force would have an opportunity to state their views on the relationship between the retiring age and superannuation provisions. This opportunity would be given, said the Prime Minister, who added, however that compulsory retirement at present would decimate the force. Dr. A. Finlay (Govt., North Shore) paid a tribute to the way in which police prosecutors prepared their cases, but expressed the opinion that some of the court attendants were a little brusque in the way in which they handled accused persons, who were presumed to be innocent until they had been found guilty. It was possibly but a human failing, but he would like to see a more human method of dealing with people charged in the courts day by day. "Our police force has been singularly free of scandal during the years, said Mr. J. T. Watts (Oppos., St. Albans). “We have no secret police in this country as other countries have at present and as other European countries have had in the past.

Mr. Watts made a plea for an improvement in the conditions of police stations in rural and suburban districts throughout the country. Crimes of Violence He said he hopes the Prime Minister would give the Blouse some idea of what tlie police considered to be the reasons for the increase in crimes of violence, and what steps were planned to combat it. “I suggest that the penalty provided is quite inadequate for the very heinous offence of bribing, or attempting to bribe, the police. I would like the Prime Minister to consider whether it should not be increased," said Mr. M. H. Oram (Oppos.. Manawatu) referring to a clause in the bill which stipulates that an offender in that direction shall be liable to summary conviction and to imprisonment for a maximum of three months, or a fine not exceeding £SO. That there were cases of crimes where the criminals had not been discovered was no reflection on the efficiency of the police force, said Mr. Oram. He hoped that the Prime Minister wouid not be parsimonious in giving every facility in the way of the training of members of the force and all the equipment needed. At the same time the members of the House should not make the difficult task of the police force more difficult than it would be otherwise