EXCHANGE OF DETECTIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18296, 12 January 1923, Page 6

EXCHANGE OF DETECTIVES.

The proposal that New Zealand and New South Wales should enter into an arrangement for an interchange of detectives was recently j revived in Sydney, with the observation that previous overtures have been discouraged by lack of interest on the part of the Dominion authorities. The subject is discussed today by Inspector Cassells, whose right to express the professional view cannot be questioned, and by the Minister for Justice,, whose opinion represents the official attitude. Their remarks completely confirm the representation of the matter from Sydney— professional opinion emphasising the value of an interchange, and the Ministerial statement disclosing the "lack of interest" that prevents such an arrangement. Mr. Lee's treatment of the question is to make a new, and somewhat absurd, proposal that the exchange should comprise the whole of Australia, involving the association of six Australian detectives with the force in each centre, and'* the distribution of 24 New Zealanders throughout the Common- : wealth. This might be desirable, I but it would be sufficient, and of practical value, to establish that | liaison at the real points of contact ; between the two countries. If New ; Zealand detectives in turn worked ' for a year or so in Sydney, and perhaps in Melbourne, the force would •establish a nodding acquaintance i with most of the Australian criminal I visitors to the Dominion, and the ; New South Wales Government— | which is apparently the only one jas yet interested consider Auckland and Wellington, with S occasional visits to Christchurch, a sufficient experience for its exchange detectives. Careless estimates of the cost should not be allowed to overshadow the merits of the scheme. It can hardly be supposed that the detectives from New South Wales who would bo temporarily attached to the New Zealand force would be merely idle spectators. As in the teachers' exchange system, they would take their place and their share in the detection and prevention of crime, so that the whole cost of the exchange to each Government would be no more than the amount of travelling expenses and the extra allowances that would be payable to the men on this foreign service. The advantages of such co-operation between the detective forces of Now South Wales and New Zealand are manifest. Probably the Dominion would gain more from the interchange than the Australian State, since Australians probably greatly outnumber New Zealanders iu the migrant criminal element, while the experience of active participation in the investigation work of a much larger population would be useful to the New Zealand force. The proposal should certainly be reconI sidered by the Dominion authorities J in the limited sense of its reference I to New South Wales only.