§ 35. Sir Cooper Rawsonasked the Home Secretary whether, in view of the fact that one-sixth of the police forces of the country are engaged in traffic duties, he will consider the strengthening of the general preventive forces by releasing these men and appointing in their place ox-service men to be specially trained by the Automobile Association and/or the Royal Automobile Club?
§ Sir S. HoareThe estimate to which my hon. Friend refers is not that one-sixth of the police are engaged exclusively on traffic duties, but that on the average one-sixth of the time of the police is devoted to these duties. Traffic duties include motor patrol and point duty, supervision of traffic by beat constables, making inquiries, dealing with accidents, and work incidental to prosecutions. Most of this work arises in the course of ordinary police duty and any scheme for separating traffic duties from other police duties and creating a special force for specialised duties would be open to many objections.