Public Order
| Published date | 01 October 1968 |
| Author | P. D. Knights |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6804101008 |
| Date | 01 October 1968 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
MR.
P.
D.
KNIGHTS
Assistant
Chief
Constable
of
Birmingham
PUBLIfJ
ORDER
Of
all the responsibilities which the modern police officer has
inherited from the "new police" of 1829, perhaps that which identi-
fies him most clearly with his predecessor is the requirement to
"cause the peace to be kept
and
preserved". Disorder in the streets
was one of the prime reasons for Peel's Metropolitan Police Act, and
contemporary events clearly indicate that the present day police
officer must be equally alert to ensure
that
the security
and
well-
being of the majority are not eroded by the actions of a violent
minority.
Fortunately, this country has not experienced for many years the
violent scenes brought to us recently by television from the streets of
Paris, Detroit, Rome, Washington, Tokyo, Chicago and other major
cities throughout the world, resulting from demonstrations designed
to influence racial policies, to further students' demands for a greater
part
in university affairs or to protest against the war in Vietnam.
But the events in Grosvenor Square in October, 1967, and March,
1968, in Stockport in 1967,
and
elsewhere in recent months, are clear
pointers
that
we cannot be complacent and assume that
"it
can't
happen here". We simply cannot rely on the traditional sense of fair
play of the British. Moods and attitudes change very
quickly-as
recently as
1961
the teaching in the Chicago Police Academy was
that fireman's hoses were no longer considered necessary to contain
crowds:
but
by 1967 even armed National Guardsmen were having
considerable difficulty in clearing streets of rioters. The incidence of
violence is quite unpredictable--the simplest of incidents can start it
off, and once started it can be exceedingly difficult to contain.
In planning to meet the possibility of public disorder, one of the
matters to which a senior police officer must obviously give con-
siderable attention is
that
part
of the criminal law which can be used,
first to meet the threat of violence and secondly to deal with the
participants should it actually break out. In doing so he could not
have a better guide than Mr. Williams's
book.'
This
author
has
sought to examine the law as it is currently interpreted
and
as it
affects the principles
offreedom
of speech and assembly. Probably no
one is more aware than the police officer of the need to maintain the
balance (and how fine it is) between these principles and the need to
ensure that in securing them for a minority proper regard is paid to
the peace and security of the majority.
1David Williams. Keeping the Peace. Hutchinson. Price 35s.
480 October 1968
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