The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-11-26
THE POLICE AND THE PUBLIC.

THE POLICE AND THE PUBLIC.
The public are to be congratulated
upon the fact that a Judge Of the Su-
preme Court has at last administered
strong and pungent reproof to the police
force from the bench. Mr. Justice Pres
ton has the credit OF doing this public
service. The case in which the occa-
sion arose for speaking pointedly re-
garding the duty OF the police to the
public was one OF the interminable petty
opium prosecutions brought against Chi
nese, as blind one is almost tempted
to suppose, to enable respectable and
wealthy smugglers to escape prosecution.
Anyhow, although conviction was had
in the inferior Court the prosecution
failed upon evidence in the Intermediary
Court. Judge Preston dismissed the
charge, and administered Il merited re-
proof to the police force, whose methods
are not at all calculated to promote the
ends of justice, but the reverse, as the
learned Judge pointed out.
We hope and trust that this is
the beginning. OF a new order OF
things, and that Judge Preston will
not be alone in censuring what
is manifestly improper and irregular in
police work. 1t is no excuse to say that
things have always been So" or that
" this is the way we have been accus-
toned to do it." The inefficiency of the
police has for long been Il standing re-
prOach to the Kingdom; and it has been
continued until it has become a standing
menace to the safety and good order OF
the community.
Justice Preston remarked upon the
fact that all the foreign police officers on
the force were in Court watching the
proceedings" according to police jargon,
instead of being abroad hunting out the
felonies that are of daily if not hourly
occurrence. But there is work to be
done in this direction and no money,
while there is money and leisure In the
opium business" Here is where the
trouble comes in, and where the Judge
hit the blot on the police system A
pOliceman's star to Il foreign officer is
equivalent to a handsome life annuity out
side his pay. And SO long as the moral
fraud" OF anti-opium legislation is toler-
ated it will continue to be so. Penalties
are divided with the officers; hence the
law offers a premium to them to neglect
all other duties and apply themselves to
that which pays best. Charges are
liable to be trumped up under such cir
cumstances, and the more active an
officer is in this direction the more likely
is he to be bought off by Chinese, who
are notoriously engaged III the opium
traffic, and who are always willing to
pay for police protection" In San
Francisco Il detail to- the Chinese quarter
is eagerly sought for and is equivalent to
competence for life within twelve
month. Considering the amount of
opium smuggling in this Kingdom, aud
its wide qualifications, and considering
also that police nature is the same all
over the world, one may be excused for
thinking that this is the best paying
tainly is the only branch attended to by
the officers, with the remarkable CO.
incidence also that only poor devils of
Cinnamon who have no friends are
hauled in fss
Now, we do not for Il moment seek to
mitigate the ofense- of the. Chinese.
They are not deserving OF sympathy, but
that is no reason why the police depart
ment of the Kingdom should be democrat
lied, and miscellaneous crime be fos-
tered and encouraged, as is being done
every day. Does any one with the slight
est experience in criminal affairs suppose
for moment, if police force of the
strength maintained by the taxpayers
were thoroughly organized, trained and
directed, that thieves would have absO-
lutte immunity from detection by night
or day, while Whit OF opium smoke will
titillate the olfactory nerves OF the ever
vigilant officers from Punahou to
police headquarters? 1t would be an in
suit to common sense to suppose so. We
do not believe it.; but we do believe that
it is impossible to have an efficient police
service under existing conditions, and we
blame the hypocritical law of moral
pretense - the anti-opium statute - for
the utter decentralization ofthe force
There is the raw material for an
admirable police force among the
native Hawaiians if properly handled
and trained; but it has had no chance
to display its merit, and can have no
chance OF doing so unless the entire
business is changed.
The Competitive Drill.