HC Deb 14 December 1967 vol 756 cc617-8
29. Mr. Raphael Tuck

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is his policy to allow the police in Hertfordshire to abandon the use of identification numbers on their uniforms.

Mr. Callaghan

I have consulted the Police Advisory Board on a proposal that the display of numbers on police uniforms should be discontinued generally, and have since reflected on the opinions expressed. Those who have proposed this change have been motivated by a desire to improve the status of police officers. But it seems to me that it is in the interests both of the public, and [...] police themselves, that the police should continue to wear numbers on their uniform, and I intend to advise police authorities and chief officers of police in this sense.

Mr. Tuck

Is my right hon. Friend aware that this will give great satisfaction to the majority of citizens in the country, as the only safeguard that they have against possible abuse of power is the identification of the policeman?

Mr. Callaghan

I would not accept that it is the only possible safeguard that the citizen has, but it is true that the citizen feels that, as long as there is a number, there is a greater measure of protection for him. On behalf of the police I want to say that they do not desire to get rid of these numbers because of any wish to escape responsibility.

Sir J. Langford-Holt

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that when he was in a previous office he gave me exactly the opposite answer, with exactly the opposite arguments, when I suggested that perhaps Customs officials should wear numbers, too?

Mr. Callaghan

There is surely a difference between asking people who do not wear numbers to put them on, and taking them away from those who have traditionally worn them.