TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. FRIDAY, 6th MAY, 1938. WOMEN POLICE.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4044, 6 May 1938, Page 4

TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. FRIDAY, 6th MAY, 1938. WOMEN POLICE.

THE decision of the Government to establish a force of women police is

more interesting than surprising. The reform, if it is to be called such, has long been urged by women’s organisations in the Dominion, but little enthusiasm was shown for it by Governments in the past. The comment of the present Minister in charge of rhe Police Department, however, that he has been forced by facts to the conclusion that, women police can perform a very useful social service in Nevr Zealand, suggests that Mr Fraser has carefully explored the need tor the course which the Government is about to take. A better expression of what is in the Government's mind will be available, doubtless, when the conditions of appointment and details as to duties and powers of the contemplated police officers are made known. There is no reason to doubt that the system in operation in England and elsewhere has more than justified itself. It has to be recognised, none the less, that in London and other vast centres of population there must always be a need for the special surveillance exercised by women officers, whose influence on patrol duty is exercised almost exclusively for the protection of their own sex. To a smaller extent, the same opportunities for wise guidance or sympathetic help will present themselves in a country as small, in the sense of population, as our own. Reports of excessive drinking at dances, involving young women, are sufficient evidence in themselves that

there is scope for the enlargement of police supervision, and they indicate one class of duty which women officers should be able to undertake. The success, however, of the experiment, as the Minister recognises,

must depend to a very important degree on the type of women chosen for appointment. The woman police officer must be more than capable in the physical and educational senses. She must, above all, be tolerant and kindly, naturally sympathetic toward those less fortunately placed in society than the great majority, and she must possess some at least of the zeal of the true reformer. These are qualities which will quickly win respect for the office as well as for the occupant thereof.