CHARGES OF GRAFT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 296, 14 December 1931, Page 5

CHARGES OF GRAFT.

Sensation in New South Wales Police Force. ARRESTS AND SUSPENSION. (Special to the ” Star.”) SYDNEY, December 5. Recent sensational developments have shown that the authorities have decided on a general clean-up of the New South Wales Police Force. Several constables have been arrested, two sergeants have been suspended and an inspector has been asked to explain alleged neglect of duty. Charges of graft have also been made. A week ago it was announced that an inquiry was being held into a charge made against two constables that they had been collecting a levy on women of doubtful character in the Darlinghurst district. The result of the inquiry has never been made public. Later on, a police constable was arrested on a charge of theft from a city warehouse. Another constable alleged to have been associated with the crime has since been charged. It is believed that the robbery took place at night while the two constables were on patrol and inquiries involved higher officials whose duty it is to see that the constables give proper attention to their beats. ' It is known that at least two sergeants have been suspended, and it is now stated that an inspector has been summoned to appear before his superiors and explain his alleged neglect of duty. Altogether, at least twelve constables are involved in charges of a various nature, some of them serious and some involving merely a failure to properly perform their duties. All the inquiries are held behind closed doors. It has been suggested in the past that the discipline within the force has been too harsh, but the majority of those who complained will no doubt realise that there can be no halfway house in dealing with those who are sworn to uphold the law. These are troublous times, and above all the police force must be a loyal body of picked men who can, be depended upon to perform their duties in a fearless manner.