Quarterly Commentary
| Date | 01 April 1954 |
| Published date | 01 April 1954 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X5402700201 |
| Subject Matter | Quarterly Commentary |
THE
POLICE
JOURNAL
VOL.
XXVII.
NO.2.
APRIL-JUNE,
1954
Quarterly
Commentary
THE
REPUT
A
nON
OF
THE
FORCE
The finely balanced relationship which, traditionally
and
legally,
links
the
constable with the community for whose guardianship he
exists is
bound
to suffer an occasional shock. Essentially
human
in
its growth and structure, its liability to periods
both
of
enthusiasm
and lethargy may be compared with the national unity which is never
so solid as in periods of international tension and seldom so weak as
in times of prosperity. Public confidence in the Police inevitably
tends to wane and waver in times when people are
not
distracted by
the threat
of
war or industrial strife, to a greater degree
than
in times
when the policeman, unobtrusive on his evening beat, is a welcome
sight to the law-abiding householder and an assurance
of
order
which
his presence impels in persons bent on their lawful occasions.
Some trends
of
recent growth could be disturbing if consideration
of them fell
out
of balance. Individual crimes
of
violence now
command bolder headlines and many more columns than before,
and stimulate greater public interest
and
concern. This widening of
their scope by the newspapers, after protracted periods
of
severely
rationed newsprint, is by no means to be deplored, since it is by
vigilance and bold independence
of
the press, particularly on the
part
of the provincial editors,
that
recognised
and
jealously held
safeguards for preserving liberty
of
thought,
and
of the written and
spoken word, are maintained. Moreover, developments in popular
education in successive generations now mean
that
more
and
more
people not only read the morning, evening and local newspapers and
see the photographs, but they can make an intelligent
and
discrimin-
ating appreciation of what they read. Their powers
of
assimilation
are also stimulated by the spoken word on the BBC news service
and
by the increasing facilities for seeing and hearing
about
current events
through the medium
of
television.
One inevitable result is
that
ordinary persons know much more
II 78
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