ANTI-VICE SQUAD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 4 November 1942, Page 2

ANTI-VICE SQUAD

POLICE FORMATION IN WELLINGTON An anti-vice squad has been inaugurated in Wellington. The Commissioner of Police, Mr D. J Cummings, stated last night that a special squad of police constables, headed by a sergeant, has been allotted the task of dealing with the growing menace of vice in the city. Hitherto each police district has been left to deal with such suspects or suspected places as may appear in their own districts, but the new squad, working from the Central Police Station, will now be available to help in any police district in the capital. The growth of disorderly conduct has for some time been giving concern to citizens, and this concern has been in no way lessened by the increasing number of cases coming before the Court in which vice plavs a part in the charge. Apart the growth of sly-grog selling, cases of wmch now come before the Court almost every week, there has been an increasing number of cases where young women and even girls in their teens have been dealt with for disorderly conduct, and there has been frequent mention of these delinquents suffering from venereal disease. Another aspect of the problem is revealed by the mention in some of the evidence given in Court that certain houses in the city have been placed out of bounds to visiting servicemen by their commanding officers. It is probable that the appointment of the special squad has arisen from these factors.