Book Review: The Police: A Study in Manpower
| Author | Andrew A. Fry |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587000300411 |
| Published date | 01 December 1970 |
| Date | 01 December 1970 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
AUST. &N.Z. JOURNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (Dec., 1970): 3, 4 249
same
gospel-he
can in California address
himself on this subject to special juvenile
units in
the
police forces, or to members
of special juvenile bureaux, whereas
here
the
only comparable official police agency
as far as I
know
is Queensland's Juvenile
Liaison Bureau.
JANET
CLUNIES-ROSS,
The Police: A
Study
in Manpower. J. P.
Martin and Gail Wilson, Heinemann
Educational Books, Ltd., London, 1969,
$11.00.
THIS book is one of
those
published on
behalf of
the
Cambridge Institute of
Criminology
under
the
editorship of Leon
Radzinowicz.
John
Martin
is Professor of
Sociology and Social Administration at
the University of
Southampton
and
be-
tween
1960 and 1967
was
Assistant
Director of Research
at
the
Institute. The
co-author, Miss Gail Wilson, is now Senior
Research Officer in
the
Higher Educational
Research Unit at
the
London School of
Economics.
Between
them
they
have
produced a
valuable
study
of
the
evolution of police
forces in England
and
Wales
since 1829.
In addition,
they
have
presented an
extremely detailed
research
project show-
ing
the
ways
in which
the
modem
police
force uses its resources.
The historical section of
the
book
traces
the
development of
the
force from
the
days when aconstable's
wage
was equated
with an agricultural labourer's,
through
the
"golden
age"
of policing following
the
two reports of the Desborough Committee
published in 1919
and
1920, until 1965.
The "golden age"
here
refers to a period
when
"finis"
was
written
to all comparison
between
the
wages of
the
police
and
those
of
the
agricultural labourer. The con-
stable's wage
was
raised some 30% higher
than
the national average wage. Australian
Police Associations would be
happy
indeed
if such aposition followed
the
St. Johnston
investigation in Victoria.!
The aim of
the
authors
in making
the
study
was to examine closely
the
use
of
manpower in British police forces and this
aim has been achieved admirably. Results
were based on a
survey
of police in a
number
of borough
and
county forces in
England and Wales
and
two divisions of
the
Metropolitan Force.
One of
the
most
interesting conclusions
supports
what
some experienced police
have been saying
for
years
in Victoria.
That
is,
that
wastage
caused by
the
resig-
nations of policemen in mid-career is a
much
graver
problem in regard to police
1. Colonel Sir Eric St. Johnston,
Her
Majesty's
Chief
Inspector
of
Constabulary,
at
the
invitation
of
the
Government
of
Victoria, is
conducting
an
investigation
into
the
workings
of
the
Victoria
Police.
strength
than
recruitment.
Such
losses
of men of five to fifteen years' service,
highly trained, experienced
and
active
must
react
adversely on
the
efficiency
and
morale of a force.
The call frequently
heard
to replace
police by civilians in
certain
positions in
order
to release
them
for
other
duties is
exposed as being of doubtful validity. The
conclusion was that, in
the
case of civilian
traffic wardens, such employment resulted
in increased traffic supervision. Only if a
policeman could be replaced at a fixed
point
would he be released
for
other
duties. It is clear, however,
that
civilians
do
make
a
major
contribution to
the
man-
power
situation. The Home Office
memorandum to
the
Select Committee on
the
estimates in 1966 commented:
"It
is
not
possible to
say
how
far
the
regular
establishment has been
kept
down by
the
employment of civilians;
but
clearly, if
the
15,771 civilians now employed in police
services were withdrawn, a
very
sub-
stantial
number
of additional police officers
would be required and
the
efficiency of
the
service much reduced."
The
authors
identify
two
main issues
underlying
the
topics discussed in
the
survey. The first is
the
relationship be-
tween
the resources
the
country
is pre-
pared
to devote to its police service,
and
the
amount
and
nature
of
the
policing it
can
get
in return. The second concerns
the place of specialisation in
the
police.
The use of manpower is basic to each.
With
regard to the first issue, claims
of shortages of police
have
been raised
for years. The plain facts
are
that,
during
the
fifteen years from 1950 to 1965,
the
police share of gross national expenditure
increased substantially.
Over
the
same
period
the
actual
strength
of
the
police
service (excluding civilians) rose from
62,910 to 84,430. The overall
ratio
of
police to population fell from one police
officer
per
693 to one
per
566. These
figures
were
arrived at from actual num-
bers
of police officers
rather
than
estab-
lishments.
In
the
1960s
the
total
time
worked
by
police officers
was
substantially higher
than
at
any
earlier period. Calculated on
the
basis of police service,
the
1961
and
1965 figures,
per
thousand of population,
were
higher
than
in
any
previous
year
in
the
entire history of
the
service. And
this at a time
when
the
Metropolitan
Police
strength
was 26%
short
of its
establishment!
The second main issue,
that
of
specialisation, is seen as
both
amedium
of change
and
an inhibitor of
further
development. The "glamour sections"
are
usually fully manned
at
the
expense of
general sections and
tend
to absorb
the
more experienced and intelligent members.
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