POLICE SYSTEM TO BLAME ATTACKS ALARMINGLY FREQUENT

NZ Truth, Issue 1274, 1 May 1930, Page 5

POLICE SYSTEM TO BLAME ATTACKS ALARMINGLY FREQUENT

Under -manned Service Is Over-worked To The Detriment of Public INCREASE IMPERATIVE IN ANNUAL VOTE

':• ; (From "NZ. Truths/ Special Commissioner. V ■■ t - ' Assaults on women and girls are becoming so frequent, not only m the four _ main centres but m the provincial towns, as to occasion considerable alarm which has given rise to strong criticism of the Police Force. ' Qri superficial scrutiny of the the general tenor of this ■ criticism has been m the nature of a slur cast upon those whose duty it is to protect the public, whereas the true explanation lies to a very large extent m the fact that the force is inadequate, and so much so that there are not sufficient men to properly police populated residential districts, and no modern motor patrols equipped with wireless to keep them m touch with the headquarters. of their centre,, while they are sweeping outlying and sparsely-settled, areas through the night hours. " : - Recently Auckland has' been aiflicted with an epidemic of assaults on women and girls, the motive m some instances being attributable to sex-perversion, and m. others to straight-out robbery, with violence; and some few months back Dunedin wks swept with a similar crime-wave of attacks, which were so bad that housewives and young women would not go out after dark into certain parts of the city iihescorted. :■■-.- . A , , ; •".■,. . For some considerable time "N.Z. Truth" has been hammering at successive Governments through various Ministers for Justice, demanding that the Police, Force be brought up to proper strength arid adequately equipped to afford the maximum amount of protection to the people, but so far nothing has been done. ' '•■•■: No doubt Mr. Mcnveney,- the Chief Commissioner of Police, would like his force enlarged, but. that is a matter for the Cabinet, which up to date has shown no anxiety to increase the efficiency of the Police Department.

TO gauge how serious the position ; is it is only necessary to review the number of cases of assault that have taken place at Auck-land-in the past few months. ... Moreover, there is the recent outrage m Wellington when a young woman was savagely attacked, by a married man and for which heir assailant was .sentenced to six months' imprisonment; : On March .18 at Auckland there" was the glaring case of daylight highway robbery m the Auckland (Domain when a lady, from Australia, walking m company with an elderly man, was assaulted, thrown to the ground and her handbag stolen, the thief making off into the dense bush. • Shortly after— -March 26— two men

■waylaid a young woman m Victoria Avenue m flic"., early evening. They ■were driving what was thought to-be a stolen motor-car. Having drawn up alongside of their victim one jumped out and grabbed her handbag, wrenched it out. of her hands,..and ran away. A young woman was waylaid and assaulted after dark m a' right-of-way near Albert Park, not far from tlie Central 1 Police Station, on the night of March r 2B. „ ■> ' LEFT UNCONSCIOUS A woman was again the victim of the modern highway man m the Mount Hoskill district oh the night of April 21. \ ■.■,■'./.'.■■■:•■■'■■ •'.:,' ■'■..-.■' ■■: :. She was cm her way to visit her brother -when she v received .a blow . on the. back of; the head, her purse was stolen and. she was left uh- ' conscious for about an hour. About the same time a man driving a sedan car molested a young woman m the; Three Kings. Road. He had followed her apparently m a manner similar to -that m „th 6 Victoria Avenue case, but when he madeas,if to assault her she* screamed, and Mr. Warren, the local postmaster, came to, her assistance and the intending asailant escaped m the car. • ' . '•• ■ A few/ days ago the list of assaults at Auckland was added to when a man aged 68 was attacked. sAfter talking to a stranger on the Avoiidale racecourse the victim i was accosted by the same man m Commerce Street while waiting for the Papatoetoe bus about- 6.30 p.m. Accepting the offer of a lift he entered one of a number of the parked cars with the stranger. • "How did you get on at the races?" asked the stranger. > , "Oh, I dropped a couple of quid with my usual luck,", wias the reply; v "I won thirty-three," said the stranger, "and want to get some whisky. Can you 'change a fiver?", The old man' produced four one pound notes frorrj one pocket and was putting them back before feeling m another pocket, where he had a larger roll when the stranger hit him on the jaw, snatched the notes arid bolted from the car. ' The victim gave chase, but lost his assailant m the crowds. These are but a few of the cases, and from one particular centre only, but :it;is -an accepted fact by the police authorities that many assaults are never reported,, owing to a very natural reluctance on the part of the viqtim, especially where the attacks are the work of a sexual pervert. MANIFEST UNEASINESS Individually, members of the Force are not to blame. So long as their time is taken up with performing duties that- rightly should be undertaken by the other Government departments from which they emanate, there must be fewer men to place on night patrol m suburban areas, parks and public reserves. It goes without saying that to any body of efficient, alert, and zealous men tlie constant commission of crimes upon women and girls which are not followed by arrest must be considered' a reflection on their competency. ■'■■■■/., For this and other reasons enumerated m this article, there has, unfortunately for 'the well-being of our police organisation, crept into the service a feeling of dissatisfaction. This is more noticeable m Auckland at the moment than elsewhere,, but nevertheless there 5 is also an undercurrent of uneasiness manifest generally. It is contended in' some quarters that to increase the 'personnel on the pre- 1 sent yeai-ly appropriation would mean lowering" the high standard of efficiency obtaining m the Department, cichcy obtaining m the Department, and this is not deemed advisable. ',•.. Th« Commissioner m one sense la

undoubtedly' correct m attributing a high standard of efficiency if :he Jias m mind individual efficiency (with a few notable exceptions) ..-. but, taking the Force as a whole and judging it on its operations as -a system it falls far, short of the highest i standard attainable. There is nothing whatever to encourage recruits! of the finest standard to join the New Zealand police. The pay- is not proportionate to the exacting life which the duty entails, and the conditions are positively the worst m the pub-, lie service. ' './■■'- ; For one thing the police are outside the pale of the Public Service Commission, ■ They are apart. They have no appeal which they consider sufficient or satisfactory. The powers of the commissioner are autocratic. The Minister of Justice would find it impossible to deny that the police force has not kept pace with the times, and- that, whereas, on the part of the criminal there is the utilisation of every modern facility the police are tramping along m the; same old manner' they did a quarter of a century ago. .:.•■■■■■■■•" And the reason that this sort of thing is permitted to continue is not surely because the facts are not realised, but simply because the State is too parsimonious; mentally \ pettifogging, to realise the real conditions prevailing. VERY BITTER MEMORY That, the .police' themselves have no association is to be regretted, but while on the one hand it may to a certain extent be their own fault it is not entirely so. The history of the attempt to form an association is an ancient one, but it is still a very bitter .memory to some of those who took an active interest m its attempted formation. .... .:■■■;■ . "Truth" asserts once again that nothing is done to make the police force of New Zealand attractive. No attempt is made to enlist a better class of man. Brawn while essential is still placed before brains. . And while br-awn is admirable m itself it: isriot enough m these .days when 'mental agility and real education— not only book learning — is more than ever needed. The conditions . do not attract because they are m plain words/, "deadly." All that a man can hope for when he joins the; police is to be a .hiiman automaton. There is little or no sport — sport is not encouraged. If a man is- injured playing a game he is penalised by his pay being docked. ' No attempt -is made to ; make the life of. a young man interesting. There is nothing to make him proud to be a member of the force. He very soon discovers that his holiday is: hot a right " but a privilege. He discovers also without loss of time that he is always on duty. lie might have been a unionist before he - became' a policeman, but he learns bright and early that he has not any limitation to his duty hours once he is m blue.

And this, let it be realised, In a

country which has made such a- song and dance about an eight-hour day. The poor devil with his navvy wage is never m the actual sense offiduty. Justice never sleeps and the instrument of justice must follow suit. What a rare thing it is to hear; of a police cricket team or football team. Whoever heard of police sports? Such a thing as a police band is not even dreamt of. Has there ever been such a thing as a police gymkhana or swimming carnival? It. can only be conjectured; that such frivolities are frowned upon- by the chiefs. They certainly are not encouraged; . But it is when it comes to the men who are already m the force, the men who have given years of service, and are' gradually growing more and more dissatisfied with the existing conditions, that the position justifies . a serious review. . The late Minister of Justice, Mr. T. M: .Wilford, was- most profuse m his promises' that the regulation regarding the retiring age should be amended, and the hopes of those men, who had served honorably for two score of years, were raised m the expectation that they would be permitted to. retire before, they were too old to, enjoy the autumn days of their life, or on the completion of 35 years' service. ;They make no bones about the fact that they were let down. That a man should,' be expected to be an active servant of the State m the capacity of- a-' constable, or. c.yen a non-. commissioned officer, after passing the-

age of sixjty cannot be thought feasible | to any reasonable person. But it is plain that the. politicians see nothing wrong about it. . t ■-.'■.■ Such are the rigid and inequitable regulations that govern the police that a man may not retire before his life is about spent, and spent on long and arduous hours of duty day' or night. As .this paper has declared again and again, • the unfortunate police are the maids of all work for every other branch of the public service. Their [ duties have become so manifold that they take precedence of that which was m the first place their iparticular care — the prevention^ and detection of crime. Modern facilities are uncommonly few so far as they are concerned. Their bicycle allowance is a mean pittance. The State does not purchase a constable's motor-car with which he must' cover, his ' district m outlying regions. VALUABLE TIME WASTED It does allow him a horse, but of what use would a horse be to a man or men stationed at say Wobdville, Eketahuna or Picton, when his duty might call him to compete m the matter of speed with a motor -.car? Consider the procedure m vogue if an assault or crime of a serious nature took place m a suburb. The central detective office would be rfotified. The detective would proceed — if one was available— to the sub-station nearest to that crime, obtain the particulars, and then set out after the offender if there was reason to warrant such action. In proceeding to the sub-station the detective might .be going past the scene of the crime, but he would have to waste valuable time. 'in going to the sub-station to check up on what had taken place, and return on his tracks after' the miscreant. And all this would be- by tram. The chance that the one car — it is unlikely that there would be .two | at any central city station — might be available would be slender. i In these days of keen criminals with speedy facilities for making escapes, wonderful as it may seem, there is not a "flying squad" m any New Zealand city. . . . ' NIGHT PATROLS UNKNOWN Night patrols m the wide suburbs are practically unknown. "Truth" knows of persons who have never seen a constable m their street for a year on 'end, night or day. There are neither motor nor horse patrols. There is not one patrol wagon fitted with a wireless m the whole of New Zealand so far as can be discovered. This paper has heard of .substations being rung up after midnight with Cthe information that there was a fire m the district — three miles away. The constable must make an effort to be there. He is not the owner of a bicycle, he may. not hire a taxi-cab, consequently he must foot it. He a.r-l-ives at last to find the fire extinguished, the place m ruins, the people

I dispersed, and he trudges back to his station again. There have been some shocking examples of parsimony, cheese-paring and meanness over the hire of conveyances and over transport matters. They have done a great deal to thoroughly disgust men of certain ranks arid it is these things which kill all ambition or natural incentive to be keen. There have been many appeals over expenses legitimately incurred and they have been disallowed. The policy of "pinch" is carried to extremes. . ■ During the last two years the matter which seems to. have had most consideration is that of transfers. Not for years have so. many taken place. VAST DISSATISFACTION If this policy is intended to increase the efficiency of the force it is not'attaining its object. 1 It has been the cause of .vast dissatisfaction and unrest, and this has been increased by the fact that there has been no apparent reason | for many of the transfers. Men who have most certainly not merited what, are called good stations have been plumped into' them, and others with the best of records ignored. There has been one case which is glaring of a man whp, was reverted to the ranks, and lost his seniority,, being bumped 'back into his old rating of ( sergeant over; the heads. of those who were rightly his seniors and had clean records.

What has been spent m transfers — for there are few which do not cost the department £20—during the last eighteen months !must be a very substantial sum. . Do these transfers achieve anything? The most valuable asset to a district ia a constable, provided he is doing his duty well,- who. is thoroughly conversant with everything and everyone m it. ' " ■■■ - ■ Of course, if .administrative ability is counted m transfers it makes a fine showing, but that cannot be said to be the case when most of the essentials of an efficient force are absent. Another bone of contention is that whereas m Australia all country stations are advertised m the Police Gazette, and men «are invited to apply, this is not done. in New Zealand. Whether a man wishes 10 . be appointed to a country station' or rjot is not considered; he is just pitchforked into it willy-nilly. If he has -"reasons, which may be purely family ones, for wishing to remain m one of the bigger centres, and he appeals against the

transfer he knows that he is running t.he risk of being what is commonly called "set." That this "sotting" exists is an irrefutable fact and it would be an easy matter, if it were judicious, to give specific instances of it having taken place. During the last few years another cause of dissatisfaction has been the deprivation of all emoluments for extra work. This was at one time known as special duty pay. All rewards have been done away with and yet, it could be stated without fear of contradiction, certain officers who are now at the head of the tree benefited very considerably through the many rewards they gained before they rose to commissioned rank. Regulations galore have been gazetted during the last few years — there are m fact about eight hundred of them m book form— but it is a most remarkable thing that one certain regulation has never) been embodied among "them, and that one is directly m accord with fair play for a man who may be "on the mat." This particular, regulation says that it is a policeman's right to see the allegations against him on which he has to face his superiors, before he signs whether he is guilty or not. Why should this have been omitted? Another very sincere cause for complaint: is that there is not enough expenditure spent on the detective -force, or devoted to the effective detection of crime. • . , • COBWEBS OF ANTIQUITY It is the detective force which is more starved than any other branch of the service. . s It cannot be denied that the detective staff of New Zealand is the most important branch of the police service, and crime, it is very evident, is not decreasing. But the cobwebs of antiquity smother the detective force which strangely enough is under the direction of a uniform officer. . This is all part and parcel of the sublime self-satisfaction which pervades many of those who are responsible for the detection and prevention of crime. No matter what other countries may have evolved as being the Jast word m efficient service m this respect, the New Zealand police chiefs profess 1 to be serenely confident that they stand out alone m their co-ordinated system, about which so much' was heard during the enquiry into the Elsie Walker .qase. All that that co-ordination seemed to indicate, when the camouflage of words was stripped from it, was that it enabled the responsibility, if anything went wrong, to be shifted from the shoulders of one officer to another, and not brought home Co any particular, one. If that unfortunate case was an example -of how co-ordination ' worked out it proved how too many cooks spoilt the. broth and what an awful botch resulted. "Truth" challenges the Minister of Justice to prove that there is an up-to-date modern camera such as is used to take finger prints m U.S.A., or Great Britain, m use m this Dominion. . It would be interesting to know m which centre it is, for we, know of three cities, at least, where no such instrument exists and apparently is not considered necessary. Over and above this, the detective staff is insufficient to meet the demands upon its time. Half, the time of the detective force is taken up with the pursuit of sil^y, trivial little enquiries which would m: the ordinary way be placed m the hands of plainclothes constables. But while the force is so much under strength— under strength, that is,

which modern requirements warrant — even plain-clothes men cannot be assigned such duties. .. This paper asserts that^there is not at any one of the biggest cities a criminal reference library available to the rank and file, and if they are keen on studying the engrossing and difficult subject of medical jurisprudence they must obtain their books as best they can; Neither is there any school,, any training, beyond the usual haphazard knowledge gained by experience, for the increased efficiency of the detective force. In 190!) the official strength of the police was given as 771, of whom 633 were constables. The population of New Zealand then was 1,008,373. This works out at one policeman to every thirteen hundred of population. The cost per head of population was Z/^A. THEIR MANIFOLD DUTIES Twenty years later the force is given as 1155. One policeman to every twelve hundred and seventy-three of population, costing per head of population 6/l%d. Of these 948 ' are constables. In twenty years the police have increased numerically three hundred and eighty-four — on paper — i. while the population has gone up 462,276. As to the detective branch, there has been up to 1929 only an increase! of twenty-one men. It must not be forgotten, either, that

during that twenty years the policehad manifold duties foisted on to them, and they lmve become the fetch-and-carry service for pensions, maintenance, taxes, statistics, and census. They are m other words the "runners" for every branch ,oi the public service. N • "Secrecy" is the one> great slogan of the heads of the police at present. When two "Truth" reporters approached Inspector Hollis at the Auckland Central Police Station the other day with a few enquiries as to the number of men doing night patrol m or around the city, the number of motor-car or motor-cycle patrols, the present strength of the Auckland force, and whether it was up to strength, or otherwise, they were informed that the inspector was not able, to supply any of the information required. Regulations forbade him to disclose anything of that nature. The question is:' When is the police force going to be placed on the most | efficient footing possible and some of the long-required reforms put into effect? ■ • At present it is doddering along m the same old way it has for a quarter of a century, and the only man who can bring about a cure' is the Minister of Justice. But to dd so*he must take a firm stand and insist that the prevailing * parsimony, hampering and stultifying, must cease.