THE POLICE.

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 912, 20 June 1896, Page 2

THE POLICE.

Are they Immaculate?

It wa9 in reference to the Coromandel township that a member of the Thames Licensing Bench spoke the other day when he expressed the opinion that the Bench, having employed a constable to inspect and watch the hotels of the district, should believe the word of that constable and back him up. At the time, we expressed our abhorrence of a sentiment so unjust and, at the same time, so contrary to the ethics of British law, and urged that it would be a dangerous principle indeed to accept the word of any policeman without weigh ing the evidence on the other side also, because policemen, after all, are only uniformed men, and not by any means infallible.

And these words were scarcely in type before the police force of Coromandel,above all places in the world, furnished absolute proof that there is no infallibility in the force, and more especially so in connection with this vexed licensing question. Two constables, whose names we considerately withold, were charged with being drunk and disorderly in the public road on Saturday evening last. One pleaded guilty, and the other denied the charge. There was a lengthy inquiry before Mr Kenny, S.M., the accused were found guilty and fined, and were subsequently dismissed from the police force.

All of which goes to show that perfection is not even to be found in a policeman's uniform. And if policemen are capable of getting drunk and of becoming disorderly and making themselves the gibe and laughing-stock of a township, it is quite within the bounds of possibility that they are capable of worse things. We don't argue that a constable should not be believed when he makes statements against the iicensee of a hotel. "We only argue that it would be a dangerous principle to accept the written report pf a constable as against a weight of sworn evidence from conscientious and independent witnesses, or to the exclusion of all other evidence. The knowledge that policemen do get drunk and become disorderly on slight provocation is bound to create a painful impression in the minds of those who are inclined to delude themselves that the police are men beyond reproach. But it also lessens the weight that attaches itself to the word of a police constable, in licensing cases especially, and demonstrates the danger and unfairness of departing from the good old British rule of hearing both sides before giving judgment on a case ofthis kind.