WOMEN AS CONSTABLES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18007, 6 August 1920, Page 8

WOMEN AS CONSTABLES

UNFLINCHING COURAGE. INFLUENCE WITH BOYS AND GIRLS. A LOSS TO THE SERVICE. (From Oub Own Cobke&pondent.) LONDON, May 27. Sir L. Dunning, Chief Inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales, lias come to some interesting conclusions relative to the work of women in tho police force. As many as 357 women wore engaged in police duties last year, against 276 in 1918. Of these, 105 acted as police matrons. 108 wer£ employed on office and telephone duties, and 144 as constables either in uniform or plain clothes. But the status of women police in this country is still indefinite, and is at present under investigation. by the Home Offioe. In the United States they have fully proved their worth, and, given fuller power, they would certainly do the same here. It is remarked: " There are still some curious anomalies characterising tho woman police officer. It is not obvious why she should be addressed as 'sir,' or why she should copy the short hair of the male police. It is her femininity which gives her an influence that can never be attained by aping manliness." DECAY OF PARENTAL CONTROL. ro P or '' Sir It. Dunning says:— " The employment of women on definite police work, like any other novelty, is the subject of much difference of opinion. The question whether a woman can hold the office of constable and come within tho provisions of the Police Acts, whether the penalties for assuult on a constable apply m the ease of a wbman, whether she should wear uniform or not, if so what it should be, maTT. well be left until the real question, whether woman can be usefully emPloyed or not, has been decided.' Some Spesboos have been answered per- £& iqiQK Dlsc l uall fi cal; ion (Removal) J?} 1 , °f course the last and vita! q "?'° n decided by each of jP?" the circumstances or its particular district. There is not the°evilf I ?,v dlsc l ". s ® in & question whether pinrlir 1 a h P°licewomen will princhiWrAn ° ffenoes 7 whidl women and or offLr concerned, either as victims or ottenders, have beei) created by the war Dortq ? C ° P e tlunk th °y but police reS? . many yeai-s past have describe ° f Tontrol •of. those^evil^' 5 ab ° Ut 50 largo a

<( THE WOMAN'S INFLUENCE. evils, juvenile crime 1 thlt sex mischief®"" ° Ver u tile chil d who" f the form of crime £e PdiSm|es t S^Vo 6 tt £ towards prostitution and disease, L no n^n 7£ Ut occJaCs oLJ interference which have often stopped tho efforts of the police to save foohsh girls from themselves. It is sometimes said that this is the work of the parson af r6form «> and should not be done at the expense of the rates and taxes- but prevention of crime is tho first duty of the police and anything which tends, however lemotely to the'prevention of crime is their Z a 1 S e froni crime and me girl saved from infamy are the mo f, al material, of the community, xv. V- 0 aavln K be done by tlie parson or the policeman." p For many years the care of women and children wJnle in custody and before the trnfwi ra ( and tllolr . escort ;has% been enthe wives of resident poboe or women called in 'as oocasion required; but eaoh year it lias been K511 ? tomato this a whole-time employment m a larger number of places. In many cases the work was combined with station cleaning, as it still is, but the object of having a woman at hand ready to speak a land word is secured, and the term "police m i £? n J ln ?P° rfccd from America and adopted by the Home Office in 1908 is as good as another for the duty. Softie inquiry work, too, has always been done by women ine omce and telephone work was if j a l var for replacing men called to the_ armed forces; it is decreasing, and will probably continue only to a small extent. This is right, because office work has a very high educational value in the police service and must be restored to the men in the interest of general efficiency. In some of the larger police offices there is much clerical work which has nqt this value and can be very well done by women, leaving men available for the duties which call tor a higher standard o? physical strength.

IDEALS OF THE WOMEN POLICE. The service is all the poorer by the untimely death, from heart laiture, oi M. M. Damer-Dawson, 0.8. E., who cave to women s activities a wholly new turn. She ou e of. the founders in 1914 of the Women Police Volunteers, out of which grew tho Women Police Service. With the outbreak of the war and the withdrawal of many men from puiblio duties she became more than ever convinced that women could render valuable auxiliary aid. The report just issued contains the following interesting survey of its inception " HOW THE FOBCE BEGAN.

The police authorities could give little or no help, more especially because war conditions made it impossible for them to give attention to the development of a new movement in police' 'work. -Everywhere we met the same question: ' What do you think you can do, ladies?' From the outset of our work in August, 1914, we have eschewed' voluntary service, and have demanded tho recognition of the truth that the labourer 13 worthy of his hire. Thus the' first British policewomen have started as professional officials, and it is irom their work that the standard force of policewomen, with lull powers and adequate pay, is bein"' formed." ' 0

lhe pioneers set themselves to learn- their duties efficiently, and their first recognition came in November, 1914, when the town of Grantham appointed two policewomen to work directly under the Chief Constable and the Provost-marshal. In 1915 began a much fuller recognition as tho possibilities of policewomen in connection with munition factories and large works began to dawn upon tho official' mind, and between Anril li/16, and December, 1918, 935 policewomen were employed under the Ministry of Munitions. Towns, counties, committees, and private firms employed many hundreds more. It is only rocently tliat permission lias been accorded to them'to speak of the work they accomplished in London during the air raids. When tho rest of London was obeying the order to "Tako cover" these women were in the worst of the dan£°r zones snowing <in unflinching courage devotion th&fc ad-ds n. no-blo chapter to the record of women's war service. A WOMAN'S INFLUENCE.

According to The Times, Miss DamerDawson was a woman of a naturally fastidious mind, but faced the realities of lifo with such courage that her work was of far more use than that of a woman of coarser libre could have been. The most feminine of women, with a gentle voice and quiet maimer, she yet went further than other Uniformed women in adopting the outward symbols of male authority.. She cut her hair close to her head, a fashion in which many of her inspectors followed her, and it was the rule of her force that superior officers were addressed as "sir." With the outward symbols, however, tho apparent masculinity entirely disappeared. Everything that was young found in her a protector; sho protected "khaki-mad'' young women from themselves; and she protected country-bred, ignorant young men, brought into bipr camps and great cities, from harpies of all kinds. But especially was she the young women's friend She was not one of those who believed that it was only a young man who could sow his wild oats and then go straight; she believed that the young woman could poll herself together equally well, and she was entirely opposed to those who seem to think that sackcloth and ashes and la«n-''ry work are the only possible means of redemption for a girl who has decided to give no a bad life. Many girla who had strayed "into the West End had become known to the police, and had then tired of their. lifo and wished to reform, Found to her a tiseful and sincere friend. She had a gift for finding jobs for many_ proteges, and jrrla who came to her, knowing her practical sympathy, rarely failed to make good. And even the failures sho did not Maine, for sho knew that circumstances and the present state of tho law were against them. In private lifo Miss Damer-Dawson . was a fine musician, an Alpine clim'oor, and motor cyclist, and also a strong anti-vivisectionist. Sho was the daughter of tho late Richard Dawson, of Lealands, Hollmgly, Sussex, and Agnes Lady Walsingham.