LAW GUARDIANS

Northern Advocate, 12 October 1928, Page 5

LAW GUARDIANS

POLICE FORCE PRACTICES CONFIDENCE SHAKEN. A THOROUGH SIFTING.

(Australian Press Assn. —United Service.) (Received 3.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 10. I “Our main effort must be to restore I that mutual confidence in the police and public which hitherto was a strikI ing and happy feature of the national organisation and the absence of which will undermine and even gravely imperil the bases of the social fabric. ’ ’ So said Lord Leo, presiding at the first public sitting of the Police Commission. He added that the commission would not endeavour to restore confidence .by whitewashing, but by the discovery and removal of any causes of friction or complaint, always remembering that law-abiding citizens did not wish to see the police discredited. In any case the diminution of confidence, about which much had been said, was possibly exaggerated.

The commission was not trying the police and was not reopening recent notorious eases already settled by the Courts. Lord Lee said a questionnaire had already been sent to judges, Government departments, and police all over the country, and other individuals and associations would be invited to reply. Witnesses would then be selected. Sir Ernley Blackwo)!, of the Home Office, the first witness, advocated the policeman's oath as a King's officer, and general instructions should, be standardised throughout the country. Although the Home Secretary did not believe in too precise regulations, expecting, the police to exercise discretion, witness was of opinion that the public generally factitiously believed the police were more powerful than they really were. He explained that except for the power of arrest the police were little different from citizens. He denied the public was unsympathetic to the police, and added that there was no ground for the supposition that the police exceeded their powers of inquiry.

His 22 years of experience showed that remarkably few convicted persons complained of third degree methods.

Lord Lee, commenting on the frequency of murder confessions said: “It seems a little odd that so many criminals are anxious to hang themselves. ’ ’

Sir E, Blackwell replied: “Accused persons usually make a statement in the hope that murder charges will be reduced to manslaughter. You /must rely on the tradition of the force and careful selection of superior officers. You cannot run the police on the basis of distrust and suspicion."