SCOTLAND YARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 11 October 1928, Page 5

SCOTLAND YARD

COMMISSION OF INQUIRY FIRST PUBLIC SITTING PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT United Press Association—By Eloctric Telegraph—Copyright Australian Press Association.—United Service. (Received 11th October, 1.20 p.m.) LONDON, 10th October. "Our main effort must be to, restore mutual confidence in the police by the public, which hitherto lias been a strikingly happy feature of our national organisation, and the absence of which will undermine, and even gravely imperil the bases o£ the social fabric," said Lord Lee, presiding at the first public sitting of the Police Commission. He added that he would not endeavour to restore confidence by whitewashing, but by the discovery and removal of any causes of friction and complaint. It must always be remembered that a law abiding community did not wish to see the police discredited. In any case the diminution of confidence about which so much has been said was possibly exaggerated. The Commission was not trying the police and was not reopening recent notorious cases, which had alreadv been settled in the Courts.

Lord Lee added that a questionnaire had already been sent to Judges, Government departments, and police throughout the country, and other individuals and associations would be invited to reply. Sir Ernley Blackwell of the Home Department, was the first witness. He advocated that the policeman's oath as King's officer and general instructions should be standardised throughout the country. Although the Home Secretary did not believe in over-precise regulations he was expecting the police too exercise discretion.- He expressed the opinion that the public generally 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 that the public was not sympathetic toward the police, and added that there was no ground for the supposition that the police exceeded their powers of inquiry. His twenty-two years' experience showed that there were few convicted persons who complained of the third degree. Lord Lee, commenting on the frequency of murder confessions, said that it seemed a little odd that so many criminals were anxious to hang themSslvGS. Sir Ernley Blackwell replied that they usually made a statement, hoping that the charge would be reduced to manslaughter. He said: "You must rely on the tradition of the force, and the careful selection of superior officers. You cannot run the police on a basis of distrust and suspicion."