POLICE EQUIPMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1934, Page 6

POLICE EQUIPMENT.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr. W. G. Wohlmann, was quite justified in replying to the suggestion that mobile squads of police should be formed in New Zealand. He was still more justified in saying that before large expenditure was incurred in this direction there must be definite evidence that further transport equipment is necessary. Mr. Wohlmann could show without difficulty that conditions in regard to crime in New Zealand are very different from those which obtain in Australia or Great Britain. The need for “mobile squads,” he said, was to combat organised bands of criminals operating in large centres, but in New Zealand there were not the opportunities for such operations owing to the diffusion and smallness cf the population. There is much truth in this contention, and, speaking generally, the Dominion is not only satisfied with but proud of the efficiency, loyalty and ability of its police force. At the same time there are occasions when there is room for more assistance in the matter of equipment. Time is often priceless when the detection of crime is being undertaken, and there have been numerous instances where only the zeal of the police officers concerned, and their use of transport facilities not provided by the department, have enabled the swift action necessary to prevent evildoers from eluding apprehension. The Commissioner of Police seems to recognise that there is room for some improvement in this respect, and says that the matter has not been lost sight of. That is satisfactory so far as it goes. No one knows better than the police authorities that criminally-minded persons keep abreast of the times. They utilise all the aids that science and advancing civilisation afford, and the police officers whose duty it is to protect the public must be similarly provided with such assistance if they are to make that protection prompt and secure.