The Hastings Standard Published Every Evening THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1903. POLICE METHODS.

Hastings Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 3095, 6 August 1903, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Every Evening THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1903. POLICE METHODS.

While addressing a jury at the Wellington Supreme Court yesterday, Uie counsel for the defence made a deliberate attack upon the police force of the colony regarding their ■ methods m the witness-lne:, and their ioc-e ideas respecting facts when a ea'-e 'J.!-, required to be established against an accused. The oratory of lawyers, on either side in court ease-, when they permit themselves !o wander iiom the broad highways of legal facts to the treacherous maz as (•! aggressive eloquence, in more eases than otherwise, do their clients :n<>c harm than good, because their elterances are so palpably jjaiit for \a the syii. ble that their heroics are mcr;!;v;i:i :re.. .me create a sympathy With the ebje, i oi their iO lack. It is ;-e.; -..) \cr\ long sauce the le s al pro-e.--s:uu 1001.-ii upon tins style of pro- • edt.re as .;!iile the proper form, and, •v S e, ict. 'he callow mem-hers of the ;]-,'.eriiitv h ;jor under tiie impression -;....! ihese tactics .impress lac The atiti-r- of a mere Witness, iiovvei.er rnpiea'-an' for the !ier\'u:!s de:e.'en;. :-■ oi iit'ie concern, hut, ■-, i:.-n a coen-td attacks a body of pub U"-t, ''Police evidences speaking general!}. wa.-> always carefully rehearsed." said Mr Herdman at Wellington yesterday. ' : The police in the witness box had a habit of suppressing facts

that, might help a pnsoner He would not say they aimed solely at; got ling ;l conviction, but they took

an unfavorable view of the position uf the accused, and strained all their efforts to get a conviction." This is indeed a serious charge to level a-

gaiim a body of men, the abuse of whose privileges might very easily transform the force into a public scurge rather than the protection we are wont to imagine it. Previous to the Commission of Enquiry into the police organisation in this colony, there was much good cause for complaint, but the flood of light then thrown upon the police force and the vigo'rous reorganisation instituted by Mr Tunbridge, the late Commissioner, has weeded out, the undesirable class and materially raised (he personnel of this important branch of the civil service. ' i,il : ' Our personal knowledge of the force leads us to the conclusion that Mr Herdnian was carried away into the region of exaggeration by his anxiety for his client, although that is very little excuse for making a misstatement, which, coming from one experienced in courts, must carry some weight. In view of this, then it is very satisfactory to notice thai Mr ■ Justice Cooper, in commenting on the charge, said that his long experience of criminal matters at the Bar of the colony impelled him to say that as a rule the detectives of this colcnv and the police generally were honest and reputable men. There were, of course, exceptions, but the police, who were charged with a very onerous duty;,

protecting the public against the com mission of crime, were as a rule men of reputation, who did not deserve the aspersions cast upon them by coun sel for the defence.