§ MR. EYKYN, in rising to call attention to the administration of the Metro- 1518 politan Police and the unsatisfactory condition of the force arising therefrom, and to move That it is expedient to bring the whole expenditure of the Metropolitan Police under the control of the Treasury, observed, that there was a growing impression among the public at large that the police were very much retrograding, and that, both as respected the public and the men themselves, some change ought to be made in the management of the force. The duties imposed on the men were so arduous and onerous, that young recruits could not perform them efficiently, while the remuneration was so cut down that men no longer cared to remain in the service. He was of opinion that it was too much of a military organization, and he pointed out that the last two or three who were men at the head of the force were military men. In his view, the Chief Commissioner should be more of a lawyer than a military man. Then, again, the system of recruiting was radically wrong, no inducement being held out to men to remain in the force, the consequence being that the best and most experienced men left, and their places were filled by raw and inexperienced recruits, for they might safely assume that experience could be under no circumstances acquired in anything under three years' practice. The pay of the men also was insufficient, and there ought to be better arrangements as to pensions. He believed that the effect of giving higher pay to the members of the police force, as was done in Paris and Berlin, would be to elevate the tone of the force, and the work would be better done and with fewer hands. The conduct of the force was not creditable when called upon to suppress public disturbances, and he would instance the disgraceful way in which the match makers' demonstration had been suppressed. He described the policy of the Home Office as a battledore and shuttlecock policy in relation to the police. The force was neither wholly civil nor wholly military. They failed to put down disturbances efficiently, and were fast losing their character as a preventive or detective force. He hoped that when any future changes occurred it would be kept in view that this was essentially a civil, and not a military, force. The entire failure of the police force arose not so 1519 much from the fault of the men themselves as from the manner in which they were dealt with by their superiors. What they required was a civil force, with men at its head whose minds were legally constructed to deal with matters pertaining to the detection and repression of crime; and the necessity for such a system was strikingly illustrated in the case of the Eltham murder, where, instead of giving the prisoner the benefit of a doubt, they banded themselves together to give evidence which, on being received at the trial, provoked severe animadversion on the part of Lord Chief Justice Bovill. Invidious distinctions were made in the pay of district superintendents, which was a source of great irritation and annoyance. There was, in fact, a great deal of injustice done to the force. He also complained that there was much dissatisfaction in the force itself; that policemen who gave evidence tending to exonerate a man when his chief had given evidence another way became marked men, and were subjected to all manner of indignities. What could be more absurd, for instance, than in these dog-days to meet a man buttoned up to the throat, or the boots, which were so heavy and creaked so much that they seemed to be made for the very purpose of forewarning thieves by giving notice of the policeman's approach. The present system of marching and drilling, too, required revision. In the neighbourhood of the Houses of Parliament they saw the cream of the force; but in the outlying districts of the Metropolis they had chiefly young lads fresh from the country, totally inexperienced and unfit for the duty.
§ COLONEL NORTHthought that the charges brought against the police by the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Eykyn) were wholly unfounded, and that, as a rule, the men of the metropolitan police were distinguished for their good and steady conduct. It was very true that a large number of young men were employed; but he did not think that could be made into a charge. Young policemen, like young soldiers, had to learn their business.
MR. SCOURFIELDsaid, that in his opinion, the hon. Member for Windsor had been hypercritical. He referred him to his own borough if he wanted to reform the police. In London they 1520 were a very efficient body. He had never in his life had his pocket picked, except one day when he went to Windsor, when it was picked by some thief.
MR. BRUCEsaid, that as far as he could make out, the head and front of the complaint of his hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Mr. Eykyn) was that the police were not a sufficiently civilian force, which he attributed to the fact of their principal officers being military men; but it must be remembered that the character of the force had been imprinted upon it during the 39 years that it was commanded by Sir Richard Mayne, who was himself a civilian. It had two distinct sets of duties to perform—detective and repressive; and for the latter purpose it was important that they should be able, on occasion, to act together; and, although considering the immense population of London, and the character of some of its inhabitants, it was satisfactory to know that collisions between mobs and the police were of very rare occurrence; still it was necessary that the members of the force should, for the purpose of effectual action in street riots and disturbances, be acquainted with a certain amount of drill, to meet possible emergencies, and in order to prevent the necessity of calling out the military. He had selected Colonel Henderson for the head of the force, because his services in responsible positions had for many years previous to his appointment to the police force been civil rather than military, and had given him great experience in the character of criminals; and he had also appointed four district superintendents, of whom two were civilians, one of them having been an experienced member of the force, and two military men, both of whom had, however, acquired civil administrative experience. With these exceptions, the inspectors and superintendents had all risen from the rank of common constables, so that he believed few employments afforded to young men prospects of rising more speedily to the higher posts of their profession than the ranks of the police force. Among 9,000 men there must, of course, be some unworthy characters; but he challenged the hon. Gentleman to point out where there had ever been a better police force than there was at this moment. That was found by every test that they might choose to apply. The Report of the 1521 Chief Commissioner, which had been presented to the House, showed that in the last year there had been a considerable decrease in crime—a decrease which, as it could not be disputed, the hon. Gentleman had chosen to ascribe to the action of the industrial schools. But without questioning the influence of these and other similar institutions on the gradual reduction of crime, it was unfair to deprive the police force of the credit that was due to them, when they remembered that in 1869 the number of crimes committed in the Metropolis was 14,258, and in 1870 it was only 12,251. Never, since the establishment of the force, had so large a reduction been accomplished in a single year. In the class of serious crimes the reduction was equally remarkable—from 956 in 1869 to 775 in 1870. The truth was, that the appointment of detective officers attached to every division of the police force had made the criminal profession a more difficult and dangerous one, and that gangs of thieves were now better known and watched, so that the graver crimes against property were less frequently committed, and, when committed, were more frequently detected than before the creation of that branch of the force. The Return of the numbers of receivers and of suspected persons showed a considerable decrease, and that was partly owing to the efficiency of the police, and partly to the operation of the Habitual Criminals Act, which returns from different parts of the country convinced him had been most useful in the repression of crime. By the joint operation of these causes, aided, no doubt, by others of a more general character, he was enabled to assert the gratifying fact that crime had greatly decreased in London since 1860, when the population was 500,000 less than it was at present. His hon. Friend had censured his conduct and that of the police with reference to an illegal demonstration, when a large number of persons in procession proposed to present a Petition to Parliament. Such a procession was illegal, and it was his bounden duty to give fair notice to those who were to head it. He thought it best to have that notice given as soon as possible, and he sent a body of 13 or 14 men to meet the procession at the starting point, to inform those who took part in it of its illegality, and to warn them that it would be stopped. 1522 At this spot no blow was struck, there was no confusion, and no disorder; and the members of a leading firm who headed the procession admitted that the conduct of the police was perfectly fair. What happened in connection with the recent Trafalgar Square meeting had nothing to do with the military character of the police. The meeting as first convened was on the face of it illegal—it was admitted to be so by those who had intended to convene it; the advertisement was then altered, and the meeting was convened for a purpose which was not illegal. The action that was taken was taken not by the Chief of the Police, but by himself. As to the comments of the Lord Chief Justice on the conduct of the police in a recent murder case, the foreman of the jury called upon the Chief Commissioner and informed him that, in his opinion, and that of the jury, there was no fault to be found with the police. For any so-called suppression of evidence it was not the police who were responsible, but the Solicitor to the Treasury. There were not so many resignations in the force as there used to be; the number of applications for admission was greater than at any former time. No doubt the better class of men were often tempted to leave the force by offers of private employment, and that because their service in the force furnished certain guarantees of trustworthiness and efficiency which could not be so easily obtained by others; and such removals, with the chances of promotion in the force itself for all men of intelligence and character, sufficiently accounted for the small number of men of ten years' service who were to be found in the lower ranks of the force. Perhaps the matter of superannuation did require revision; but the small amount of time placed at the disposal of the Home Office this Session rendered it impossible for him to deal with it. In the case of the witness mentioned, the punishment was not for giving evidence against a superior officer, but for drinking in a publichouse with another witness, which was against the regulations of the force.
§ MR. RUSSELL GURNEYsaid, that although the appointment of four superintendents to act under the Chief Commissioner had tended somewhat to improve the action of the force, yet he believed that the metropolitan police had degenerated as compared with the City 1523 police, in consequence of the superintendents having too many men to look after. In one case one had to superintend 800 men. He also thought the increase of pay had effected a great improvement. The inducements to become confidential officers under private firms were so strong, that an increase of pay would be necessary to prevent the more efficient men from leaving the force. It was also requisite that the head of the force should have large organizing powers, and these might be better vested in a military man than in a civilian. Another advantage would arise from the appointment of a law clerk, who might be at hand ready to give prompt advice to superintendents of the police in any emergency, and thus save the trouble or delay of their applying to the Treasury. The more extensive employment of detectives had been instrumental in breaking up many of the haunts of crime and the nurseries of young thieves; and the thanks of the public were due to the Home Office for providing such beneficial services.