Policemen Go back to School

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22961, 12 February 1938, Page 15 (Supplement)

Policemen Go back to School

/'Must be Much Smarter I To Outwit Modern Criminals"

CHANGES IN WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS FORCE

By (Copyright)

OVER 100 years ago Sir"Robert Peel created the London Metropolitan Police Force to ' "preserve the peace, prevent robberies and other felonies, and apprehend offenders against the peace." At first these policemen were called "Peelers," after Peel, but soon people started calling them • "bobbies," after Robert; and bobbies they are to-day. As I write there aro 21,000 of them presetting the pence for some 9,000,000 people in 700 square miles of metropolis within a radius of about 15 miles of Scotland Yard. These policemen are wonderful, as you have heard; so it was with surprise and alarm that Londoners Itemed some time ago of a now government plan to train public schoolboys and university men for officers in the world's most famous police force. Oxford Accent

the other. It isn't Scotland Yard at all, really. It's New Scotland Yard. The real, or old Scotland Yard, so called because some Scottish king spent tho night thero many centuries ago, is a-quarter of a mile away up the street. . . . Anyway, I slid cautiously through a little green door on the Embankment to-day, and asked Scotland Yard's spokesman what was nil this about the fascistification of London's famous police. "Arrant Nonsense" "What do you mean, fascistification?" replied the Yard's spokesman—who hasn't got an Oxford accent himself. "Well," I said, "they say the Government wants to create in the police force an officer or Fascist class that will bo out of sympathy with the common people in time of red ruin and the breaking up of laws." "That is such arrant nonsense," said Scotland Yard, disdainfully turning up his noso, "that I do not propose to discusii it at all." And as this theory is rather foolish, T passed on hurriedly to the reform of the force.

"To meet the demands of the times," said Scotland Yard. "Remember, there has been no change in the structure of the force for over a century. To-day wo need a younger and more highly trained staff of officers, and a more active and energetic body of constables. We need specialists in radio work, in traffic problems and in criminal investigation. Criminals are more efficient than they used to be, and we need more efficient policemen to cope with them.

"Under the present system men are too old when they become officers. They have to spend a certain number of years as constables before they become sergeants, and so on through the various ranks of station sergeant, inspector, sub-divisional inspector and chief inspector. So Ave have established a police college at Hendon to train officers." College Course The training college course is for two years. The moment a man graduates he takes the rank of junior station inspector at a salary of £3OO a year. There are nearly 580 positions which in future will be held by police college graduates: 276 station inspectors, whose salary will bo up to £400; 159 subdivisional inspectors, getting up to £6OO a year; 66 chief insj)ectors, salary £700; 36 superintendents, salary up to £800; 10 chief constables, salary up to £1000; six deputy assistant commissioners, salary up to £1500; four assistant commissioners, salary up to £1650; one deputy commissioner, £2500. and one commissioner. £3OOO. This last is the position which has been held by men such fts Lord Byng and Lord Trenchard. The present commissioner is Sir Philip Gamo. I asked Scotland Yard to tell me how tho bobbv of the future is going to be different from tho bobby of the past. "Ho will be younger and more efficient, we hope," said Scotland Yard, "but otherwise there will he no difference at all. Tho higher officers will be

When Peel drafted his plnn for tho London police force he insisted that it should'ho democratic, that every officer up to and including superintendent should be drawn from the ranks. That rule held until 1905, when the Government decided that the time had come to establish a police college and train educated men for the upper ranks of the force.

For over a century the bobby has bfien London's guardian angel—friendly, reliable, all-knowing, sympathetic and almost completely incorruptible. It is truo that he knew his place in the British caste system, and would always treat an upper class "drunk" with more deference and consideration than a lower class "drunk." But on the whole, he has been as willing to crack a Fascist disturber of the peace over the head as a Communist rioter —though far more Communists than Fascists have had their skulls broken in the last few years. So, with such an excellent police force, why is it being reformed?

There are already lots of London bobbies who speak without dropping an "h." It is feared that by the time the next coronation comes round i>opeyed visitors from the ends of the world will be given directions by police with an Oxford accent. But Scotland Yard allayed my fears to-day. Scotland Yard, as you've surely road, is a vast, grim building facing the Thames on one side and Whitehall on

f

different; the bobbies will be the same."

And for the first few years the change won't be noticeable even among the officers, he continued, becauso most of tho students at the new police college will bo drawn from the ranks of tho force.

"The police college started with 60 students," he explained, "and about 30 new ones will bo accepted each year. But for the first few years men already in the police forco may apply for the police college training. Two-thirds of the students are drawn from our own ranks right now." But in tho future they will be alniost all educated men of the upper middle classes. Because, what are the qualifications for entrance to the college? Well, the chief qualification, apart from being "at least five feet eight inches tall and having a girth that reaches 35 inches when expanded," is what is called tha schools certificates. That is matriculation or university entrance.

Physical Requirements The physical requirements for the new boobies are not too difficult. A candidate must be of a good average height, and have a certain girth, as we saw; and ho must not have various ailments such as hydrocele, varicocele and inveterate dentition. Furthermore, he must have at least 12 points of articulation in his teeth. But he doesn't have to be a Sandow.

Force holds in the eyes of the world, and to promote an increasing sense of esprit de corps and high standard of conduct." Their law course alone would mean two years' work for many people. It includes constitutional history, central and local government, common law and statute law, evidence and court procedure, as well as the routino technique of issuing warrants and summonses and making arrests They have to study traffic problems, radio and wireless, police finance, drill and physical training, first aid, crime prevention, public meetings and riots, registration of aliens. They have to know by heart every detail of a constable's everyday duties. Short-term Service Finally, when they graduate, they have to spend a year learning at first hand the work of the London policeman. "How long does it usually take under the old system," I asked, "for a police constable to rise to an inspectorship?" "I have never known it to happen in less than ten years," said Scotland STard. "And that gives you an idea of the need for the new system. Formerly a man was getting on in years before he became even an inspector; and inspector is not a high rank. In fact, the only lower ones are station sergeant, sergeant and constable." And it has another idea for lowering the average age and increasing the efficiency of the force. It has decided on short-term enrolment for one-quarter of the police force. Men will enlist for ten years only and then retire and seek other employment. That is what they hoped, but the idea isn't popular at all and very few are enlisting for the short term. World's Worst Traffic Sp it seems that the London bobby you go to when you are lost or want to know the way to Buckingham Palace will be much the same to-morrow as he was yesterday. He will do his work for only £3 or £4 a week, yet remain honest. He will breathe noxious gases in the world's worst traffic jams for hours on end, and yet be always helpful and courteous. He will go oh taking down statements from malefactors such as "Something went pop inside me 'ead. so I picked up a knife from the kitchen and I done 'im in." Ho will continue to stride slowly and with dignity, the epitome of law and majesty. . . . And if ever you hear a traffic cop talking with a hot-potato-in-the-moutn accent, you will know he's not really a London bobby, but just a police college graduate learning his | A, B. C's.

• "He's got to be smart, though," said Scotland Yard. "We want clever, oven brilliant, men. Before a man can enter the police college he has to pass pretty stiff examinations in English, general knowledge, history, mathematics, science and languages." "Languages? Are the London bobbies to learn these foreign lingoes? Are we to have London bobbies quoting Latin tags as they make arrests? ..." "Not necessarily," said Scotland Yard. "Languages will be optional to certain other subjects. But it's very useful to have a few police officers who know foreign languages, even Latin and Greek." Twenty-one Subjects

During their two years' course at Hendon the budding officers undergo an intensive course of training which ranges from history of British Taw and forensic medicine to ju-jitsu and how to arrest a struggling and angry woman. They study 21 subjects. One of them, criminal investigation and detection, includes detective training, crime indexing, finger-prints, photography, scientific aids to detection and plan drawing.

The Home Office claims that the new system "will help to maintain the high reputation the Metropolitan Police