Public Order
| Author | P. D. Knights |
| Published date | 01 October 1968 |
| Date | 01 October 1968 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X6804101008 |
MR.
P.
D.
KNIGHTS
Assistant
Chief
Constable
of
Birmingham
PUBLIfJ
ORDER
Of
all the responsibilities which the modern policeofficer has
inherited from the "new police" of1829, perhaps that which identi-
fies himmostclearlywith his predecessor is therequirement to
"cause the peace tobe kept
and
preserved". Disorder in the streets
was one of theprime reasons for Peel's Metropolitan Police Act, and
contemporary events clearly indicate that the present day police
officer mustbe equally alertto 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 manyyears the
violent scenes brought tous recently by television fromthe streetsof
Paris, Detroit, Rome, Washington, Tokyo, Chicago and other major
cities throughout the world, resulting from demonstrations designed
to influence racial policies, tofurther students' demands for a greater
part
in university affairs or to protest against the warin Vietnam.
But the events in Grosvenor Square in October, 1967, andMarch,
1968, inStockport 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 thetraditional sense of fair
play of theBritish. 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
by1967 evenarmed National Guardsmen were having
considerable difficulty in clearing streets of rioters.The incidence of
violence is quiteunpredictable--the simplestof incidents can start it
off, andonce 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 policeofficer mustobviously give con-
siderable attention is
that
part
of the criminal law which canbe used,
first to meet thethreat 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 lawasitis currently interpreted
and
as it
affects the principles
offreedom
of speechand assembly. Probably no
one is moreaware than thepolice officer oftheneed tomaintain the
balance (and how fine it is) between these principles andthe need to
ensure that in securing them fora minority proper regardis paid to
the peace andsecurity of the majority.
1David Williams. Keeping the Peace.Hutchinson. Price 35s.
480October 1968
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