The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-03 00:00:00

ABUSES IN THE POLICE

, .
[The great press of matter has compelled us to de-
'er the insertion of this article, which hai been ready
Or several days.] , _ _ _ •

The 'promise of amendment held out in the con-
versation which took place on Thursday se'miight,
at:the Bow-street police-o'Ace, if it can be relict!
upon, is very agreeable. The positive denial that
:Lbases exist in the. parish of _St. Paul, Covent-
ga'rden, which is now, as is known to one of the
Magistrates who. preside over• it, better regulated
nd conducted than it has been :since the reign of,
Queen Anne,,is a sort of security that there will be:
tome check given to the nightly, ,atrocities' of which.
,ve haVe exhibited a few specimens. 'lt was with;
deasure we read the report,- which, 'showed how.
';eenly our rebuke was felt in'the proper quarter, al-
though what was said upon that memorable occasion
is strangely opposed to the sentiments delivered but i
few days ago by the very same atithorities. ." It,
is no wonder,, said-they,.." that the press should
have complained bitterly of the. scandalous condition,
of the parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden, and it is:
disgraceful that such abuses are allowed to 'exist.,
Indeed, the public are obliged to the press for ex-
posing the shameful transactions. Every word' of,
is' true." This adoption of the - tone of our re-.
monstrance is very flattering, particularly as the ob-1
servation issued from the lips of police magistrates.
It is therefore with surprise we learn that they have,
;is publicly retracted the, acknowledgment of the:
truth of our.accusation, supported as it has been, not
only by themselves but, by every man of, experiencei,
and veracity in the metropolis. But a great allowaneet'
is'to be made for the weakness of human nature. Police!
magistrates have been in general treated with indul-i
gence: they are beldup daily to the admiration andass!
tonishment of the public,—the rivals of Solon, and`
Lycurgus, and Solomon. They are seldom casti-,
gated except for some act of unaccountable folly or
oppression, 'and it must be expected that they will
now and' then show symptoms of being spoiled.
The condition of mind which thig' charitable forbear-,
ance of the press on occasions' of 'offence, and its,
warm, and benevolent praise when a sentence is ut-'
tered by their worships in' the cause of humanity,'
have reduced them to, is possibly not a little aggra-
vated by the' very remote terms of acquaintance,
which the net' Older Secretary permits to exist be-
tween them and himself.' It is on those accounts
we look with mercy at the contradictions which
their Worships have thought proper to give to their
own words, as if to confirm the accuracy of the pic-
ture we have drawn of the profligacy on one side,
and the neglect on the other. They say' they.know.
nothing of " flash-houses, or the enormities described
in this paper. What 69 they mean by this ?
they mean to say they do not know that there arel
more infamous houses,' the resort of thieves of all,
sorts, in the parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden, than
are to be found in any three or four parishes in the
whole metropolis besides ? 'They don't understand,
what is meant ;by flash-houses'! Flash-houses are,!.
we reply for their information, infamous public-
houses, which are annually licensed by themselves.
We are glad, however, -to perceive, as we said,
before, that there is likely to be an abatement of the
bulky nuisance which this abominable district
presents, and we consider the silence of other',
magistrates as infinitely a worse symptom than the
respectable vehemence of Sir Richard Birnie or Mr.
Halls, however, at-variance with what is, or what
has been, or What is likely ever to be.
The constable who took up the cause of the
parish authorities has obeyed. the suggestion of the
Magistrates, and written a letter to the' editor of
this paper. He has, it will be seen, adopted a tone
much more judicious than that of those who recoms
mended this mode of falsifying our statetnents.
Although he asserts that the neighbourhood is im-
proved, he does not deny that the late conditios of
it was dreadful in the extreme. He says it-'is
un-
true that nothing in the shape of actual reform of
the existing nuisances has been effected.; " for the
public-honses in the vicinity of the thestse, at least
those in St-. Paul's pariall,-ssotosious *keeping
opal, to most unwarrantable hours for 0 a purpose
of supplying bad characters with spirits, &c. are
now regularly closed. at, the stipulated time mens
tioned by the Magistrates." We believe that the
simplicity of the constable, who has been hitherto
employed iu a quiet and unambitious line of business,
has been imposed upon. We believe that he fully
thinks that when by order of the Magistrates the
door of the public-house is once closed, it can no
more be opened on that night. No doubt the doors
of the " flash cribs" are all shut at a certain hour;
but how Often are they opened afterwards to strings
of thieves of both sexes, as well as to officers ? and
what magic is there in the voice of the watchman,
who knocks with his staff and says, "All's right,
master, it's only me!" That this constable is a
most respectable person, and dispoged to do more
than any other person in the parish, can be easily
imagined; but that he has almost every thing to
learn, is as' palpable to those who know the town, as
that he has distinguished himself more by his ap-
parent sense of the importance of truth than other
people. The Magistrates have assured him of their
support in his exertions; he shall have ours too.—
Weshall willingly unite with their Worships in the
task; but their Worships must not take all the credit
to themselves, nor must they be offended if we
point out and reprobate abuses which may escape
their vigilance and discernment.
Informers have, we regret to say, great privileges
irk some of the police-offices. An informer goes to
Bow-street office, and applies for and obtains a
Summons requiring the owner of a flash house to
attend and answer fot admitting customers after sea-
sonable hours. The time for hearing the merits of
the charge arrives, but no informer appears. The
Magistrate is told*that no person stands forward
against the " covey" who keeps the crib. He
shakes his head, and says, " Oh ! I see how it is.
We know what has caused this," and dismisses the
accused without further comment. His Worship at
the same time well knows that the informer has been
" tipped" (paid) for the accommodation ; and yet,
when the same fellow who has been bribed to absent
himself applies against some other person whom he
has found to he a runt customer (unwilling to com-
promise), a summons is instantly granted, and the
case is proceeded in, as if the veracity of the ras-
cal, whose silence has been purchased, were to' be de-
pended upon in any other instance. Thus the pub-
lican who happens to violate the rule by one mi-
nute, and who never harbours thieves or informers,
is sure to have the latter dOWn upon him with all
their vengeance. We hope that the cause of those
gentry will not be angrily taken up, and that this
paper will not be charged with having libelled them
amongst others who put the laws into execution.—
It is notorious,—and we refer to the Magistrates
themselves for the correctness of our statements,—
that the informers are paid by, all the publicans, who
are interested in stopping their mouths, and that
the•moment the " tippery" (money) is given, the
moiety of the fine, which should go elsewhere,
drops along with the rest into the pocket of the fellow
Who professes to do justice to the public. About ,41.
or 5/. administered twice a year operates as a sleep-
ing dose upon the senses of the informer, although
his "hours of occupation" seldom or never cqm-
mence in this line before midnight. If a stranger
happens to be in one of the delicate " consarns" in
the parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden, after act-of-
Parliament hours, and is told that the. person taking
a go of " blue ruip' (gin) at the bar is an informer,
he naturally asks the landlord why he is so mad as
to serve such a dangerous character. " Dangeroto !"quoth the publican, " Pooh, him and me under-
stands one another. If he peached against tsi, it
would be a good Si. or 101. a year out of his way,
besides odd drops of the doctor at tile-bar."
Receivers of stolen goods are always in droves
about the office. These gentlemen, also, have their
privileges. An interchange of civilities
frequently
takes place between them and some of the officers,
who are willing to smoke
a pipe, crack a bottle and
a joke with them, andthe proprietors of houses of
accommodation for both
sexes of all ages, the owners