Commentary
| Date | 01 October 1970 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7004301001 |
| Published date | 01 October 1970 |
| Subject Matter | Commentary |
Quarterly
We have on a previous occasion quoted Field Marshal Lord
Slim's admirable aphorism: Change is another name for Oppor-
tunity.
It
is certainly our intention to take full advantage of the
return to quarterly publication which is resumed, after a ten-year
interval, with this issue of the Journal. Issues on a monthly basis
imposed some degree of responsibility for printing at least some
"news" and inevitably involved us with matters of transient interest.
The space available, too, given the need for variety of content,
restricted the scope which could be offered to our contributors.
Quarterly publication enables us at once to concentrate on topics
of more enduring concern and to provide space for more substantial
contributions. The present issue, we trust, bears witness to both
these advantages. The large additional number of pages has enabled
us to publish the full text of The Queen's Police Gold Medal Essay
for 1969 without cramping the style
of
a distinguished band of
contributors on many topics.
We do not, for the time being, propose to alter the page-size. A
great many
of
our readers have their copies bound (an excellent
investment, incidentally!) and some very good reasons must be
given before wechange the shape of the shelf-destined volume which
has to live with its predecessors. The present page-size is that of the
original series of the Journal, beginning in 1928, which was modified
only to cope with the paper shortages during and after the second
world war.
We can now envisage an editorial policy
of
unique character.
The Journal is firmly based on the British Police Service, a Service
which in the last decade has shown its astonishing capacity to diver-
sify its activity and to assimilate radical changes in organization,
administration and technique. We like to think that our
part
in
disseminating the ideas and experience of a multi-force Service
during this period of progress has been a useful one, and we mean
to make an even greater contribution to the business of keeping
abreast of change.
One lesson the Service has learned is its inter-relationship with
the other services and bodies that seek to nourish and safeguard the
values of our society. Our columns are open to them all. Under-
standing of each other's tasks and difficulties, knowledge of each
October 1970 253
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