THE LONDON POLICE.

Otago Witness, Issue 921, 24 July 1869, Page 6

THE LONDON POLICE.

(The Times,) \, \ The Police Report's' of ' yesterday indicate the kind of work -which Colonel Henderson, the new; Commissioner of Metropolitan Police; 1 has before him. At Bow-street, a robber f] of ambition, and taste was placed in the dock, having been •caught in the act of, carrying off Mrs "West's sealskin cloak, two shawls, and a bundle of dreßses, from the house of the First Minister of the Grown in Downingifltreet. At Mar lborough- street, Mr Stnox had before him four proficient burglars, suspected of breaking into Mrs Cohen's fine mansion in°Park lane, and stealing jewellery of the value of no less than L 2,000, and of committing other depredations in Belgravia. Nor are these other than ordinary transactions of a high order of burglary. A post-office at the West End was lately broken into in the early hours of the morning, just when the night constables were taken off duty, and an iron safe cut out of the wall and carried off in a light cart that waited for the plunder, with property in it worth L6OO. We cannot answer for another statement which is in circulation of a carriage and livery servants having recently conveyed a party of " cracksmen " to a large house in one of the wealthiest suburbs of London, and then remaining at the gates until they brought back to it, and drove away with, the family plate. There is, however, nothing incredible in the story. Burglary is, then, clearly " lookingup," and so lucrative is the trade (for an industry it has become, in which capital is embarked), that rewards for detection are now considered useless in the presence of the largenessof the profitsgained bythereceivers of stolen goods, who, there is reason to believe, have the actual operators in their employ. Ladies, alarmed at having their residences thus broken into and plundered, have, in some cases, left their houses in fashionable streets of London ; balconies, verandahs, and ornamental conservatories are recognised as sources of danger; " people of qualitj?" are fortifying their abodes with iron windows ; and in one case at least a servant has been frightened to death. Such is London and its civilization — such are its police administration and protection, costing some L 600,000 a y ear — such is the plight of the Metropolis, from which its inhabitants expect Colonel Henderson to rescue it, in 1869. As a detective force, after the mischief is done, there is, no doutt, something to admire in the Metropolitan Police. It appears to be well acquainted with the persons and the haunts of burglars ; it can take curiosity-hunters to their clubs, their favourite public-houses, and the places where they chat over their business ; it can introduce men of fashion to swells of the criminal class, point out the eminent practisers of housebreaking, and tell a series of amusing tales a3 it carries them from one resort of crime to another ; it can show them the receivinghouses and depots for Btolen goods ; it affects, at all events, to know how the business is carried on, its capitalists, and its employes. But there the value of the Police stops in a great measure ; it recovers, indeed, a small portion of the watches, the jewels, the wearing apparel, but nothing of the plate carried off. But for protective purposes, for the prevention of this kind of crime— for the safety of our houses — for the guardianship of our streets, for the detection of burglars, for the conviction and punishment of their employers and the receivers of stolen property — that is, for tho better and great«r part of its duties— the Metropolitian Police, 7,000 strong, fails ; not of course, entirely, but substantially. It can calculate to a nicety the profits — only 10 per cent. — of tho burglars ; it can estimato the profits of the receivers— some 25 per cent. ; it can toll yon tho value of tho property stolen in the course of the year ; it can provide tho materials for interesting essays on housebroakmg, pocket-picking, and all the varieties of robbery and theft ; it can do everything but prevent crimes of this sort. And not doing that, the great end and object of its existence, the sixpenco in the pound which wo pay on our assessed rental for tho Metropolitan Police, is to a large extent unprofitably spent, A correspondent, too, explained in dotail tho othor day how tdlontly and gradually the Police wore allowing gambling to rovivo at tho increasing races around London — how they pormit booths to be kept for play at roulette, and such other games as are little bettor than downright robbery, —nay, how they actually protect theae temporary establishments, whilst fools ftra being plundered and knaves are plundering m thorn—how, m short, thoy woro tolerating, and by toloration oncouragini?, a rosort to tho older vices and orunos of tho racecourse, and bo onding in converting thorn into plocos whoro no honostman or woman ought to be soon. Thus in this dirootion, also, the Metropolitan Polico

fall short' oi , iWthie;.^, >rfd ", we I ! ai| jfco , obtain money's* ', worth, jn return for our taxation. '. , „, An inefficient Police cannot be converted into an effective force merely by, a wave of the hand, or by a change in its Chief, or by the addition of four chief constables of the streets of London. Colonel Henderson and his new aides-de-camp must, of course, have time allowed them, even if meantime the Qiieen's Palace, as well as the Prime Minister's house be robbed, or the burglary of a Duchess's house be added to that of Mrs Cohen's. But the existing state of things is too serious and dreadful, the depredations of the criminal classes of London are becoming too grave and alarming, the organisation and audacity of receivers is growing too flagrant, to permit of prolonged delay. In New York, we showed how society in these respects was vindicating and protecting itself against the insolence of crime. And there are worse manifestations of society everywhere than the Vigilance Committees, which have rescued California from the dominion of guilt, and made it one of the least criminal countries in the world. We cannot go on long with Park-lane unsafe, with having one of its best houses invaded and plundered in the twilight, its bedrooms looted, twenty locks broken to get at their treasures, and caskets of jewels oarried off, as if they were ©veryday occurrences.