The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-19 00:00:00

The City and Metropolitan Police Forces.

An important document, bearing on the question
of the comparative Efficiency of these two forces,
has just been published. It appears that Sir
Richard Mayne deemed it his duty to collect
certain returns, which he considers go far to
demonstrate the superiority of the Metropolitan
police in point of efficiency and cheapness. The
results of his investigations and calculations were
laid before Sir George Grey in the form of a letter
under the date of the let of June, and this letter has
DOW been printed and published. The following is
a fall abstract :

Tim cos,
Statistics, printed
From the last volume of the Judicial
in 1861, the cost per man in the Met police force
isCityi. police force £79
would appear to be £7B 3s 2d, in the °l?°litan
of the Those figures
4s 7d, the difference being only £1
el police
methodsi at each
e f;
ceolfueathede
were obtained by dividing the total expenditure
re-
spective establishments by the number of
but Sir Richard Mayne points out that tlltt
procedure is erroneous, as in estimating
Metropolitan establishment several large sums arpeot
which do not properly relate to the cost of the
stable, and which have corresponding items in the Coint;
police accounts. The sums amount in the aggregate to no
less than £72,558 2s Id, and refer to expenses incurred for
building and repairs, medicine and refreshment for prisons,
horses, forage, special allowances to constables, deficiency
of superannuation fund, &e. The accurate annual cost of
the Metropolitan police force Sir Richard Mayne shows to
be £400,389 2s 3d, which, divided by 6,110, the number of
men, gives £65 9s 3d as the average cost of each man. The
police constables belonging to the Metropolitan force, who
are employed in the Dockyard and War Department are
not of course considered in the foregoing figures, but it
has been ascertained that their cost per head is £3 93 10d.
On the part of the City police, the cost for the year 1861,
according to the account; of the City Chamberlain, was
£18,172 9s, making the average cost per man £79 4s.
76, the force numbering 608 individuals. Thus, as Sir
let,,i tchard Mayne shows, that each man in the City
8 £79 4s 7d, or 21 per cent. higher than in the
'5l-etropolhan force. Tho difference is caused by a higher
rate
of pay, cost of clothing, equipment, &c., and the
greater ex.„,„
posing;
i,lt, ses of the management of the City pollee. Sup-
by the Metropoliot
tropolitan. trkTe) expenses, and management to be on the Me.-
n the other hand, if the City was adopted
the ciEy wh'ile, a Ruin of 1:8,WO per year would be saved by
ture would be
another point of viewPers
ziAacestablishment, the additional expendi-
year. Regarding the question from
on the whole populatioP('liee, considered as a tax per head
the maintenance of tt;el.l. It. Mayne finds that the cost of
the City,
the same way the cos,
cpeonlitt.ahnigdihsetiri,int,
t2i:el
City, 8s 4d, or 191 per
per housa is shown to be 19s 01
10t,ter.rudai,tierinath. district, is, in the Metro-
metropolis, and £3
csRO4%, in the City.
'
SECURITY FR '-'s
Old ti
o ter ~
25 10c1, or more than 200 per cent:ll4:e
Sir Richard Mayne next goes into a eo m
rn of the
crimes of ail classes in the City and Metropott
and quotes the criminal returns in the latest volaradiatrietB,
Judicial Statistics, to show that the number of crirnaZothrae
mitred in the year 1861 was, in the City, 1,629, and it. tilTs
Metropolitan district 11,203 ; the area of the City being little
more than one square mile, the population 111,784, number
of houses, 1,479 ; and in the M-etropolitan istrie, area 671
squat,; miles, 1,41444,11 3,110,654, and uttalba of hou.ica

461,848. The proportion of crimes to population is, in the
City 1 crime to 158 persons, in the Metropolitan district 1
crime to 277 persons. In this relation crimes in the City
are upwards of 156 per cent, higher than in the Metropolitan
district. The proportion of crimes to inhabited houses is, in
the City, 1 crime to 12 houses, in the Metropolitan district,
1 crime to 37 houses. In this relation crimes in the City
are upwards of 208 per cent. higher than in the Metro-
politan district.
Sir Richard continues to furnish a variety of statistics
favourable to the organisation and management of the Me-
tropolitan police. He shows that the proportion of the
number of persons apprehended to the number of.
crimes
committed is in the City 10 apprehensions to 15 crimes, in
the Metropolitan district 10 apprehensions to 28 crimes. As,
however, half the number of persons apprehended by the
City
number of efficient
c be
iye
n thet
apprehensions magistrates,ai
comparisons
betweenentered
into. This ratio was, in the City, 10 efficient apprehensions
to 32 crimes ; in the Metropolitan district, 10 efficient ap-
prehensions to 37 crimes. The proportion of prisoners dis-
charged by magistrates in respect of those apprehended by
the City police, lin ; by the Metropolitan police, lin 4.
If the whole value of a police were to be measured by the
number of magisterial committals in comparison with the
number of police apprehensions, it would appear plain
from these figures that the number of persons improperly
apprehended by the City police is double that so appre-
hended by the Metropolitan. The Metropolitan police are
concerned with much graver classes of crimes, or they get
up their evidence more satisfactorily; of the suspected and
accused persons apprehended by the City police less than
e
olonpeti3enhnaeu4t;
fullye
reett hseti- ronrhpbae,ndteeatthasi
Crrilhsdofnrticaoe,
drt thoseesrfyeoionecc-h,frftitrite3.:iertm2utoeihatalhfrei
ttnis;:eshh3eawds6fle
s,sosfiiMetropolitan
puna,cgtapprehendedronohuetbmpiahreudtemeitilsnthsaiht t
committeded
for b y t
rt
forfde i
nA trial,lt Metropolitan oype
Theoa
ri tlaBn6 .p precisewo l
ai cs e,
Metropolitangtstatria.etooipopulation;
ute;cdtmlehli.hm.
ns
bretcaeertr
inGsirhrcpsnmaert
respective
ecicrvos2t
were
thepopulationsComparingßichard'sagainstCity
of in3lo4tt
oh, the
,e2Metro-
politanbeing in
i no r
in the ratio of 1 to 3bB, or 271 per cent, of the population
Of offences in houses he supplies the following figures :—ln
the Metropolitan districts, 1,168 ; in the City, 104 ; the
respective ratios being 277 per cent., and 782 per cent. of
inhabited houses."

In terminating this section of his report, Sir Richard Mayne
says :—lt is thus shown that the crimes of a serious charac-
ter, both those against persons and houses, as well as crimes
of every description, are relatively to population and houses
much higher in the City than in the Metropolitan district.
The inference is, that the Metropolitan police are more effi-
cient than the City police for the prevention of crime. The
percentage of the persons apprehended who are committed
for trial is much greater in the Metropolitan district than
in the City. These results show that a greater number of
persons are improperly apprehended in the City The Me-
tropolitan police act with bettor discretion, and more regard
to the evidence against the persons apprehended. For the
accuracy of the calculations and results which I have stated
and for other calculations and interesting deductions on
these matters, 1 beg to refer to a paper attached, by Mr.
Frederick Purdy, secretary to the Statistical Society, and
the statistical clerk to the Poor Law Beard, to whom I re-
ferred the returns for examinr.tion and correction.