A.R.P.—A New Sphere of Police Duty

Published date01 January 1939
Date01 January 1939
AuthorF. T. Tarry
DOI10.1177/0032258X3901200105
Subject MatterArticle
A.R.P.--A
New Sphere of Police
Duty
By
F.
T.
TARRY
Chief
Constable of Exeter.
RELUCTANT
as the country has been to admit the fact, it
is now generally recognised
that
A.R.P. must have an
integral and permanent place in
our
local and national life:
integral, in
that
every sphere of industry, every section of
society, and every department of public service, local and
national, has now to superimpose
upon
its structure
the
measures by which its functions would need to be discharged
under
the conditions of a modern war; and permanent, in the
recognition of
the
obvious though brutal
truth
that, while the
bombing aircraft remains
the
primary weapon of aggressive
warfare, so A.R.P.
must
seek to minify
that
weapon's effect.
The
plain citizen is slowly
but
surely coming to
the
realisation
that
A.R.P. is a measure of insurance, comparable
with the measures taken to prevent
the
scourge of infectious
disease.
To-day
every ratepayer cheerfully makes his contribu-
tion to
that
portion of his district or borough rate which
provides for the maintenance of isolation hospitals, to which
any who contract infectious disease can be removed for treat-
ment. But citizens generally and individually are no less
determined that, while the isolation hospital is available for
use, they will take due precautions to avoid the need for their
use of its services.
The
turn
and twist of international eventsin recentmonths
has emphasised the vital need for Air Raid Precautions, and
the importance of protective measures for Passive Defence
which, organised now, may show any potential enemy, in no
uncertain terms,
that
air-raids
upon
any
part
of this realm
would not contribute to the winning of
the
war on which he
may embark.
In
the pressure of hasty creation of the A.R.P. machine,
43

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