The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-01-17 00:00:00

E4e 3tharbriby Obserktr.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1874.
THE POLICE AND THEIR ARDUOUS
DUTIES.

A highly experienced member of the
House of Commons has described England
as "the most police-ridden country in Eu-
rope." When ii saying of this kind is uttered
by an eminent man, people are apt to accept
it as true without much thought or examina-
Coo ; and so, although there may be very
little basis for it, the assertion passes into a
proverb, and comes to be regetrded in that
I 4ht. Now, the public. mind has lately been
ereised, more especially in London, with
~.ouiplaints respecting the inefficiency of the
police, and, doubtless, amid so many thou-
sand men, a few members of the force may
be found who do not come up to the standard
of excellence required from the guardions of
the peace. Granted that an instance of
hardship occasionally arises, and that a brit-
tal policeman exceeds his duty, it will be ad-
I it itted that such cases are comparatively rare;
nod tint experience of all who have been in a
crowd most be that a constable often exer-
cises great forbearance under an exceeding
sunotint of provcation. In some districts of
the metropolis, a policeman nifty literally be
id to carry his life in his hand. Let hint
attempt to take a malefactor into custody,
and lie is surrounded by a beetle-browed ,
villainous throng, who hustle him, bon-
net bim, endeavour to trip him up, and throw
every possible impediment in his way. Such !
facts, however, seldom get into the papers ;
hut let a pliceman commit an excess of duty
by roughly arresting a barrister or a Colonel
of the guards, and the whole metropolitan
press rings with indignotion. Startling
headings, such as "The Police Again!" arrest
the attention of the reader ; the fact that
9,000 men are called upon to protect the lives
and property of a population equal to the
whole of Scotland is utterly ignored; and the
resignation of the Chief Commissioner is even
demanded. Now it will occur to many that
this is a most unjudicial lino to take, and one
very injurious to the public interests. In-
stead of vilefying the police, and holding
them up to contempt, it should be the aim
of all order-loving citizens to support them
in the discharge of &monotonous, dangerous,
and difficult, duty, and to encourage them in
the prosecution of that perpetual war which
they are compelled to wage against the pre-
datory classes. Let the restraining hand if
police be once withdrawn, and with what
security could the inhabitants of our towns
retire to their nightly rest? However, let
these who complain of the occasionally stern
demeanour of an English constable mark
well the intelligence which has just come
from Berlin. What would they say to an
announcement in a gunsmith's window ad-
vising the purchase of firearms, in view of
the growing insecurity of the place? In the
Prussian capital robberies with violence occur
in leadind thoroughfares in broad day, and
murders are perpetrated with impunity.
Daring the months of November and De-
cember there were twelve assassinations in
the city, and only one was discovered. Of
lesser crimes the name is legion, and the
villains who commit them generally manage
to escape. Now, comparing the size of Berlin
with that of London, it will be seen that it
is a place of easy grasp, and one which
ought absolutely to be under the control of
its police force. Yet in two months it has
witnessed more murders than London with
all its vast size, hears of within its own limits
in five years. Facts like these might well
be remembered in the midst of the abuse
which is not unfrequently showered upon
the police of our own great towns and crow-
ded cities.