POLICE REGULATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15250, 13 March 1913, Page 8

POLICE REGULATIONS.

EXAMINATION TESTS. _____ i \ STATEMENT .BY MINISTER, ; NECESSITY FOE SYSTEM. i i '"'.•'':■ >. [BY. TELEGRAPH.— ASSOCIATION."] l":\ Christchurch, Wednesday. ' Some recent criticisms of the new police ; regulations were brought under the notice 1 of the Hon. A. L. Herdman, Minister for , Justice and Attorney-General, to-day, and : the Minister made the following statei ment:— ' "It is misstating facts to say that the new regulations mean promotion by exam- • ination and nothing else, and it is an exag- , geration to suggest that the elementary ' tests of intelligence which the regulations prescribe are in the least degree- dif- | ficult. A glance at the new rules will show that, apart altogether from elementary educational qualifications, the following matters are to be taken into consideration when advancement of members of the force is being considered : (a) Seniority of service; (b) good conduct, and (c) zeal and > mtegrity in the discharge of police ■ duties. Further, in each year the officers ' in charge of the districts are bound to f ornish to the commissioner recommendations in favour of the promotion of senior 1 and oifiier sergeants and 1 constables in 1 their districts who have passed the pre--1 scribed test, and who are considered ■ eligible for promition to higher rank. • " The object of providing simple tests I of elementary knowledge is to enable those • who are charged with the duty of seoing that the peopio of New Zealand possess a highly efficient police force to, discriminate between the man who is incurably dull ' and the man who possesses normal intelligence. Hero let me say that some of the 1 most efficient of modern British police 1 forced require the men to pass examinations more difficult than those prescribed by the New Zealand regulations. Modem conditions make this necessary. Communications are constantly being received from all parts of the world. The business is becoming more complex and difficult, and the duties of the police officer of to-day are varied and complicated. He must be able to understand communications received, and he must be able to answer them intelligently. A policeman is, in fact, the handy man of nearly every other State Department. He helps to prepare briefs for liist superior officer who prosecutes in the Police Court. It may happen that in country district* he conducts prosecutions himself. This being so, he must have some knowledge of the elementary rules of evidence. He is sometimes inspector of weights and measures, sometimes clerk to the Licensing Bench, sometimes inspector of factories. "In Victoria and in South Australia regulations prescribe ! examinations. In police systems such a* London Metropolitan, Glasgow, and the Royal Irish Constabulary, tests of elementary knowledge such as those contained in the New Zealand regulations are prescribed as a step-ping-stone to higher rank. " Since the new rules have been gazetted I have personally inspected the Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Palmerston North, and Timaru stations, and at each place I have invited officers and men possesing any grievance to see me and make their complaint. Strange to say not a single member of the force has complained of the regulations relating to examinations.