The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1874-01-17 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

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 Europe." When ii saying of this kind is uttered by an eminent man, people are apt to accept it as true without much thought or examinaCoo ; 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 thousand 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 brittal policeman exceeds his duty, it will be adI 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 exercises 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, bonnet 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. Instead 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 predatory 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 advising 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 December 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 crowded cities.