POLICE REFORM.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3437, 19 May 1898, Page 2

POLICE REFORM.

The Police Commission is to be credited with bavin# achieved something, since it has obtained from Commissioner Tunbridge a definite statement of the reforms that ought, in the view of an officer of groat experience, to be made in our police policy. This could have been got in a less expensive way, no doubt. The Commissioner could, for instance, have explained his scheme to a newspaper" interviewer,” or pub them into a paper for presentation to Parliament, ana so have saved the expense which is being incurred by the leisurely tour of the country now being made by the Commission and its officials. Still, it was better to have it thus than not at all, and the fact of Mr Tunbridge having put his ideas of administration before the Commission will guide that body in reporting on the improvement of the system, whatever it may do with respect to the mixed and generally unimportant information it has hitherto been laboriously gathering. Mr Tunbridge’s recommendations are, in effect, in favour of an increase of the force by 50 men, of an alteration in the wage scale, the establishment of an efficient pension scheme and the rearrangement of administrative conditions. The figures he quotes in support of the proposal to augment the force are rather startling, for they show that the cost of police protection per head of the population is here vary much lower than in other colonies. In New Zealand it is only 2s Bd, while in Victoria it is] 4s 2Jd, in Now South Wales 5s lid, in South 4 ustralia4s'3d,. in Queensland 6s 9d and ia Western Australia 11s 3d. Even if the suggested increase in numbers was made in New Zealand, the coat would only bs 3s 81. It is also shown that in this colony we have only one policeman to every 1461 people, the next smallest Australian proportion being one to every 1011. With 50 more men we should have one to every 1400, and therefore less, proportionately, than any other colony. As to pensions and compensation, the Commissioner makes a series of recommendations which are well worth considering. His fundamental proposal appears to be to provide a fund out of a compulsory reduction of 4 per cent, from salaries, augmented by the amount at present to credit of the police reward fund, by fines gained under the Licensing, Gambling and Polioo Offences Acts, by emoluments received- by constables for services rendered by them otherwise than as policemen, by payment from Government departments for special police work and by a Government grant. These proposals, as well as those for improvement in the method of enrolment, will doubtless be generally approved. Exception may be taken to points of detail. For instance, the suggestion that men who retire or are dismissed shill not receive a refund of their contributions would operate unfairly. What a man has paid into a fund of this kind is his, just as though ho had paid it into a bank, and it is just that he should be entitled to withdraw it when ho withdraws from contribution, for whatever cause. Again, wa question the wisdom of having fines for licensing and gambling offences paid into the fund, on the ground that it would probably tempt unscrupulous officers to unduly push prosecutions. Apart from minor objections of this kind tho establishment of a police pension fund on a sound foundation is undoubtedly a necessary step, and one which the Commissioner is to be complimented on having brought into prominence in such a systematic and formal way. We believe that the country ia, on the whole, splendidly and honestly served by its police i and that belief is justified by the proceedings of the Commission, which has, in effect, elicited no more than this against tho police, that an officer who was unfortunate enough to be discharged has sometimes been reinstated on the suggestion of a politician, and that in one or two oases policemen have proved susceptible like other men. But taken for all in all nothing of importance has been effectively charged against the police, in spite of all the abuse and innuendoes that have been fired at them by mistaken extremists. T) maintain the force in its present condition of good discipline, and, if possible, to improve that condition, public support to a pension fund is perhaps required. At any rata in such a connection as this it would be foolish economy to close tho public pocket against either such an increase of the force as is suggested by an officer of Mr Tunbridge’s acquaintance with the facts and necessities of the case, or against a reasonable contribution to a pension fund, which would 'be a premium on good service.