This article by Maurice Procter appeared in The Yorkshire Post on Thursday 20th April 1964, and was a review of the book entitled The Police by Ben Whitaker (published simultaneously by Eyre & Spottiswoode 21s and Penguin Books 3s. 6d.)
How wonderful are the police in Britain today? Is there a case for nationalisation? Maurice Procter, the crime novelist, who was formerly a policeman in Halifax, discusses a new analysis of the role of the police which is published today
The minute a man starts to study the question of Police and Public he is confronted by one paradox after another. The British policeman is paid by the taxpayer to do unpopular work which the taxpayer used to have to do himself.
In this sense he is nothing more than a citizen in uniform, but on the other hand he is a highly trained professional man. Also, in his professional capacity he can be assailed by both sides in one single dispute: it can be said that he is not doing his duty and that he is exceeding his duty.
We expect him to enforce the law, but we do not want im to be too zealous about it – especially when we are culpably involved. We expect him to bring criminals to justice, and yet we impede him with a set of rules which seem to have been written with the purpose of allowing criminals to escape.
| Sporting chance |
These rules were made to defend our personal freedom against tyranny. They are necessary, but as Ben Whitaker says in his book published today, some of them give the criminal rather too much of a sporting chance. Consider the right of an accused person to refuse to answer any question which might incriminate him, and his right to refuse to be questioned in Court. Concerning this, I quote Whitaker quoting Jeremy Bentham:
If all criminals of every class had assembled and framed a system after their own wishes, is not this rule the very first which they would have established for their security? Innocence never takes advantage of it; innocence claims the right of speaking, as guilt invokes the privilege of silence.
| Organised crime |
With a crime rate which has trebled in the last 20 years, we must study every way to help the police. We can no longer regard the policeman v. the criminal as a private fight. It may be all right to admire the enterprise and organisation of the train robbers, but organised crime is one thing we should fear like the plague. The sentences given to those poor (rich) devils show that at least one Judge was aware of it.
Nowadays far too many people are actually hostile to the police. There is a section of the public which has always been happy to see a "bobby" get a good hiding, and now these people have been joined by a number of disgruntled motorists. The usual story is that the PC said that they were doing 50 when they were only doing 40, or that he said that they had been parked for 35 minutes when they had only been there for 22 minutes. Well, quite often a man has got to call a PC a liar or admit that he has been foolish or negligent.
Of course policemen tell lies. Like everyone else, they will lie to get out of trouble. Very rarely will they lie to blacken a case against anybody. Apart from any question of honesty, perjury is too dangerous. Of course I do not claim that the policeman is always right. People are not perfect, and policemen are people. There always has been and always will be a very small number of police officers who will lie, steal, bully, be habitually uncivil and accept bribes, in spite of exhortations and warnings throughout their training and ever after.
These few will always do great harm to the reputation of the main body of decent men. The only remedy is to discard them wherever they are found.
The brutality alleged in the Sheffield case was of a sort quite new to me. Experienced police officers throughout the country were amazed by it, and at first refused to believe it. From this sincere reaction alone we can assume that it seldom or never occurs elsewhere.
| Sincere reaction |
I remember that 30 or more years ago it was not uncommon of one PC to wallop a ruffian who had undoubtedly asked for it, and the usual result was that the man had more respect for the PC and sometimes more regard. I personally have no knowledge of a suspect ever being beaten to make him talk, though of course I cannot claim that it has never happened.
Among people who are not actually hostile, the general lowering of public ideals has led which accepts the higher crime rate as something which cannot be helped, like the weather. So it becomes even more obvious than before that we must have more policemen. Also, we must make more efficient use of the ones we have.
One main question is recruiting, which Mr. Whitaker discusses carefully. But I did not see any mention of the height question. If my opinion, Chief Constables would have a wider choice of better men is height standards were abolished.
There seems to be as much need for physical strength in the force as ever there was and provided he was suitable in other ways, a broad muscular young man of 5ft. 7in. or so would be more effective than a lissom lad six feet tall. If dignity and public respect are in question, a man need only stand up straight and do the best he can.
| Higher standard |
Mr. Whitaker also examines the question of recruiting men of a higher educational standard, with early promotion as an incentive. We need the best we can get. But you cannot take a bright 19-year-old and make him a sergeant in four years and an inspector in six. Such a proceeding would do more than a drop in wages to make good men resign.
Most of the best men in the force have been attracted to it by equal chances of promotion. Noting would disgust them more than to have certain recruits earmarked for promotion before they had been measured for a uniform.
In the matter of efficiency there are many complaints that a PC spends too much of his time "persecuting" motorists. Look at only a few of Mr. Whitaker's figures.
Every second of the day, careless motorists are estimated to be doing £430 worth of damage. A person is injured on the roads every 94 seconds, and another is killed every 78 minutes. Seventy-four thousand uninsured motorists came to light in 1962 only because they were involved in road accidents.
So our roads must be policed; and out streets must also be policed. It is generally agreed that the man on the beat is doing the most valuable work of the force. In spite of the almost universal recognition of this amongst senior officers, Mr. Whitaker's instances of men being taken off patrol for trivial duties make distressing reading.
| On the streets |
To get the men out on the streets all duties which can be done by civilians should be so done. There should be the most modern equipment and competent typists in every police and CID office, and the prospect of a highly efficient thief-taker pecking with two fingers at a typewriter should be seen no more. There are other ways by which policemen could be enabled to do the job they were trained to do, and I think Mr. Whitaker mentions all of them.
However, he realises that nothing will be done in a hurry. He remarks in his conclusion:
More money is spent in Britain today on the launching of a new soap powder than on research into all the problems of our police put together.
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