Additional Duties Imposed on the Police
| Date | 01 July 1930 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3000300302 |
| Published date | 01 July 1930 |
| Author | George C. Vaughan |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Additional Duties Imposed on the Police
By
GEORGE
C.
VAUGHAN
Chief Clerk,
West
Riding of Yorkshire Constabulary, England
WHEN Sir Robert Peel introduced in 1829, during the
administration of the Duke of Wellington, his system
of an organized constabulary, it was received with much
antagonism in many quarters, the popular belief being that the
scheme for an improved police service was really an official
attempt to interfere unduly with the liberty of the subject.
This
erroneous impression doubtless sprang from the fact that
the system gave certain powers to the forces the significance of
which the people were not yet able to appreciate.
This
hostile
attitude is rather difficult to reconcile with the facts that the
necessity for such an organization had exercised the public
mind from the beginning of the nineteenth century, and
that
for some years clime of all kinds had been gradually increasing.
The
new order of things was introduced mainly for the pre-
vention and detection of crime, and, as a logical consequence,
the preservation of the peace.
It
is thought, and in fact
put
forward as the
truth
by more than one writer, that the ingrained
jealousy of the people of this country of placing in the hands of
government powers which, under an arbitrary administration
of affairs, might be turned to their oppression was the real
cause of this opposition.
It
was some years after the introduction of Sir Robert
Peel's measure
that
efficiently organized police forces were
established. Police forces in boroughs were created by the
Municipal Corporation Act, 1835, and the first County Police
Act, under which the establishment of a county police force
was made optional, was passed in 1839.
The
establishment of
county forces was made compulsory in 1856. A perusal of
the reports of inspections by the Government Inspectors of
Constabulary published annually in the succeeding years show
334
To continue reading
Request your trial