Letters to Probationers—III
| Published date | 01 January 1952 |
| Date | 01 January 1952 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X5202500116 |
| Subject Matter | Letters to Probationers—III |
68
THE
POLICE
JOURNAL
have had administrative experience and therefore what better way can
there be of obtaining such experience than through correct staff training,
and the correct application of that training in day to day staff duties?
Finally to those who would ask why is it necessary to copy the
armed services, I would point out that, compared to the Royal Navy and
the Army, the Colonial Police is a young Service, and that if both the
former found from experience that, in order to obtain the maximum
possible efficiency from the staffs of disciplined forces, it was essential
to have a uniform training and
staff"
drill," surely we should at least
explore the possibilities of instituting a similar system.
Letters to Probationers-III
"GENTLEMEN-A
fellow has now no chance of promotion unless
he jumps into the muzzle of a gun and crawls out of the touch-
hole."
It
was not an ambitious policeman who, disgruntled, made that
remark.
It
was a young naval officer who served in His Majesty's
Navy before the Crimean War was fought. I quote his complaint to
show that frustration is not, essentially, a modern reaction to current
events. Frustration is a word which in these post-Freudian days is much
overworked. Certain conditions which give rise to the undue labour of
this abstract noun have been described by Frederick Willis in his book
Peace and Dripping Toast, in which he relates a description of a con-
versation he once had with his newspaper boy. He writes, " Let me
repeat my conversation I had with a boy who delivered my papers
recently. He was a dull little fellow with barely enough intelligence to
deliver the papers at the right
houses;
indeed it was owing to a lapse
in this matter that I made his acquaintance.
'What
are you going to
be, sonny,' I asked,
'when
you grow
up?'
Years ago such a boy
might have
answered'
carpenter, printer,
butcher'
or something of
that sort,
but
this boy said, ' A diesel engine expert.' Rather taken aback
I asked,
'What
is a diesel engine?'
'I
dunno!' the boy replied.
'Then
what makes you wish to be a diesel engine
expert?'
I naturally inquired.
, 'Cos father says so!
'E
says they don't 'arf make a lotter munny! ' "
This brand of frustration, which is occasioned by wishes without
effort and ambition without energy, can be avoided by probationers who
will take the trouble to think about the career upon which they have
embarked.
Not to think about promotion until the particular morning upon
which one awakes and realises, with something of a shock, that, so far
as length of service is concerned, one is qualified for it, or, to dwell
continuously upon the main chance, to be " a man who hourly prostrates
himself before ambition," are equally stupid errors. Every probationer
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