ROVING POLICEMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 365, 5 March 1932, Page 22 (Supplement)

ROVING POLICEMEN.

EFFORT TO FOIL THIEVES. Burglars and other criminals who have thrived on the clock-work regularity of the London police beat system will in future have to reckon with a new plan which lias recently come into force. The scheme introduces surprise squads of patrols with a roving commission. For sonic years the beat system, under which policemen left .and returned to their stations at a certain time and patrolled their beats at regular intervals, has been condemned by various authorities. Criminals knew that after a policeman had passed a certain point, he would not return until a specified time later, and they took advantage of this knowledge. Some modification of the old system was introduced in London three or four years ago. and beats were continually changed, but this reform did not give entire satisfaction. Under Lord Trenchard’s new scheme, regular beats will still be worked, but in each division surprise squads will be sent out. They will patrol the streets independently of the policemen on the ordinary beats, and their movements will be known only to a superior officer. Thus a policeman going on his round may at any time be followed a few minutes later by one of the surprise patrol, who might be walking or riding a bicycle, or even driving a motor car.