Recent Book: Man's Best Friend: Deferred Value
| Date | 01 July 1979 |
| Author | S. F. G. Edwards |
| Published date | 01 July 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7905200318 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
THE
DAILY
BREAD
EDWARDGRIEw
The Theft Acts 1968
and
1978. (Third Edition)
Sweet and Maxwell' Hardback £9.25 Paperback £6.25
Anyone who has been involved in the
operation
of the Theft Act 1968 is only
too well aware of the difficulties which
have arisen during the last few years.
Many will have greatly appreciated the
assistance offered by Professor Griew in
the previous editions of this
book,
particularly when dealing with the
notoriously inadequate section 16.
The
Theft Act 1978 has repealed
Section 16 (2) (a) of the 1968 Act and
replaced it with the following three
offences:
i)the
obtaining
of services by deception
ii)the evasion of liability by deception
iii)the making off without payment.
Section (iii) is a particularly interesting
section not only because it creates a new
offence
but
because it uses what might be
called somewhat
"un-Parliamentary"
language. Any
attempt
to simplify the
words of a statute is to be commended.
However, the following does seem to-go a
little far:
"a person who, knowing
that
payment on the spot for
any
goods
supplied or services
done
is required
or expected from him dishonestly
makes
off
without having paid .
and with intent to avoid payment .
shall be guilty of an offence."
It
will be interesting to see the judicial
interpretations of
"on
the spot" and
"making
off'.
Unfortunately, as a result of the slow
passage of the 1978 Act
through
Parliament, Professor Griew
W
forced
to revise his
book
on the basis
that
the
Bill would not receive the necessary
support. The new Act, therefore, has
been dealt with in an Appendix to the
third edition. However, even in this
comparatively brief
commentary
on the
new offences, the professor has provided
a very useful exposition of the law
and,
not surprisingly, has foreseen several of
the problems and inconsistencies which
may arise in the future.
One such inconsistencyseemsto follow
from the fact
that
sections
(ii)
and (iii)
apply only to liabilities and transactions
which are legally enforceable whereas
section (i) has no such restriction. Thus,
it
appears
that
a man may be convicted
under section (i) if he obtains the services
of a prostitute without intending to pay
her from the outset, yet he
cannot
be
convicted under sections (ii) or (iii) if he
subsequently evades his liability to pay
her or makes off without paying her!
Obviously, the complexities of the
Theft Act 1978 are too great to consider
in detail here
and,
as Professor Griew
points out there are still
many
complications
arising
from
the
unrepealed sections of the 1968 Act. This
is a difficult part of the criminal law
which is frequently changing. Thus, one
is extremely grateful to Professor Griew
for his admirable
commentary
on and
criticism of the present law of theft. As
the publishers
"blurb"
suggests, this is a
"concise and invaluable
companion"
for
all with an interest in this area ,of the
criminal law.
PORTIA
MAN'S
BEST
FRIEND
CLIFFORD
R.
STANLEY:
Deferred Value
Barry Rose (Publishers) Ltd. £2.20
This
book
immediately attracted my
attention
for two reasons; firstly the title
and secondly the fine picture on the cover
of an Alsatian at rest. However, the
initial anticipation was not satisfied by
this
rather
over-priced booklet. The idea
of writing
about
working Police dogs and
their history is
both
asound and original
idea,
but
unfortunately Mr. Stanley has
merely scratched the surface.
The first recorded use of a Police dog
in Europe was by the
Ghent
Chief of
Police,
Van
Wesenmael,
who
experimented with three twelve
month
old Flemish Sheepdogs on night
duty
and eventually increased his
'dog
section'
to sixty nine.
It
is interesting to note
that
the dogs were muzzled until released in
pursuit of a fugitive. The
subject
of
muzzling in crowd .situations has been
discussed fairly recently
but
discarded
298
for a
number
of sound practical reasons.
Europe followed quickly on Belgian
heels and by 1907 the principle had
crossed the Atlantic when New York
Police
bought
six dogs to form the basis
of a new
'dog
branch'.
British Chief Constables in the late
1800's had very differing views
about
the
use of dogs for Police work. Cheshire
forbad officers to be accompanied on
their
beats
at
night
and
in
Northumberland,
in 1870, Super-
intendents were instructed to suspend
from
duty
any officer who had a dog in
his possession. Less staid attitudes were
exhibited in Leicester(1879)
and
London
(1893),
but
both
these Forces had dogs
that
were little more
than
untrained
strays with a penchant for the
company
of Policemen. Such animals would
accompany the night
duty
officer on his
July
J'979
beat and
'Jack'
(Leicester) even decided
which area he would work and then
covered it with great regularity.
Whilst whetting the reader's appetite
with such stories and talking of Colonel
E. H. Richardson (who could rightly be
called the father of the British Police
Dog), it is unfortunate
that
the
author
never comes up with the meal. There are
so many avenues that could have been
explored, but they are merely touched
upon leaving the reader up in the air. For
example, the chapter devoted to 'The
Success of the Airedale' takes only
nineteen lines and has two
photographs-
one showing an Airedale engaged on an
open search on a rooftop and the other
being so indistinct as to be virtually
unidentifiable, but would
appear
to be an
open search with a criminal located in a
tree.
The number of Forces that were
convinced
ofthe
assistance that could be
given by a trained dog increased very
slowly with Forces including Bolton,
Chesterand Sheffield being mentioned in
a 1914 Police Review as carrying out
experiments
in
this
field.
The
Metropolitan Police created their Dog
Section of thirty nine in 1950, and by
1955this had grown to one hundred and
fifty!
I found this booklet most interesting
but believe because of its lack of depth
and high price, it will only appeal to a
limited number of readers.
S. F. G.
EDWARDS
~OVER
MANNING
JOHN
BALL
-
LEWIS
CHESTER
AND
Roy
PERROTT:
"Cops and Robbers"
Andre Deutch £4.95
If we believe in Robin Hood then his
exploits must put him as a front runner of
organised crime and, if the legend has
substance, then he stole to help the poor
and oppressed and not for personal gain.
Likewise, if Charles Dickens was truly
reflecting his era, then the likes of Fagin
and Bill Sykes were becoming organised,
but no
doubt
Fagin would argue that he
was giving gainful employment to waifs
and strays.
There is little doubt
that
the bulk of
crimes committed during the 18th and
19th Century were acts of individ uals
who were trying to survive in a harsh
poverty stricken class divided society.
'Cops and Robbers' however, clearly
illustrates how greed has now gripped an
affiuent society by the
throat
in a period
that bears no comparison to the days of
Dickens, where organised crime is now
on a par with business empires, except
their annual reports do not appear in the
financial pages of the newspapers.
As the reasons for committing crime
change, so do the patterns and habits of
the crimlnal classes. Every town has its
estate or street where anti social elements
tend to live or congregate, but the boys in
the big league soon learn and most live in
lush suburbs of the larger conurbations,
own farms or legitimate businesses -
attend Church on Sundays -support
charity events - rub shoulders with the
'aristocracy',
masking
their
true
profession
under
a
cloak
of
respectability.
In the past, the Police have, in part,
depended on local knowledge of villians,
and this in turn when confined to a small
Police area was being exploited by the
299
teams. This book certainly highlighted
the problem the Police faced in the 60's
and early 70's, when the 'Crash bang
gangs' started their long and successful
attacks on banks.
However, a witness to one bank
robbery, plus the action of an off
duty
detective started the ball rolling when
Derek Creighton
SMALLS
-'Bertie' to
his friends, came into the frame. Having
set the scene, the Authors then give the
reader a good insight into Bertie's
recruiting campaign, which he cond ucted
with the experience and precision of a
First Division Football Manager.
As usual, with books of this nature, I
read on with interest to see how long it
would be before it was revealed
that
at
least one of the villians was 'hob nobbing'
with a senior Detective Officer. I was not
disappointed, by page 43 Bruce BROWN
- a master bank robber, property dealer
member of and one time captain of
Ashford Manor Golf Club, was taking
coffee in an officeat Wembly 'Nick', with
his golfing buddy - the Detective Chief
Superintendent - Usual holiday abroad
with wives - a ski-ing holiday to
boot
- a
slippery slope to disaster? I suppose it is
fair game and no different to the ageing,
one time Hollywood starlet writing her
life story. The book will not sell unless
spiced with the names of all the men she
has slept with. By page 55 we are
introduced to verbals, followed by the
'usual' disagreements between units and
personalities of the Force and a whole
chapter dealing with complaints against
certain Officers which the authors
introduce with . .. "Was enough to
tarnish the whole operation." This, as far
July·1979
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