Rehabilitation
| Author | W. J. Skardon |
| Published date | 01 July 1946 |
| Date | 01 July 1946 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X4601900313 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
236
THE
POLICE
JOURNAL
caught before they have left the township or city from which the
vehicle was taken. Before the advent of wireless the culprits might
have got further afield and immediate detection would have been more
difficult, particularly so if they had overrun the area of normal circulation
of the information. Withregard to the area advisable for the circulation
of
the
information, a good point is to ask the driver, when the matter is
reported, the amount of petrol contained in the tank, thus giving some
idea of the distance the vehicle may be expected to travel.
In
addition to police radio, I have found in my short experience
that the attention given by plain clothes officers to the likely places
of offences is always worth while, and sometimes the offenders have
been caught before the vehicles were actually driven away.
The
report
of.
the Commissioner of Police for
the
Metropolis
for 1944 shows
that
the number of motor vehicles never recovered
is very small compared with the number actually driven away.
This
is
very satisfactory.
It
is, however, the offence under the Road Traffic
Act which is the bigger nuisance, and in the post-war period when the
number of vehicles is greatly increased, the attention of all police
forces will be drawn to this offence more than ever.
It
will be interest-
ing to see what new methods of prevention and detection can be
devised in this direction to reduce to a minimum the too common
occurrence of taking and driving away a motor vehicle without the
consent of the owner.
Rehabilitation
By DETECTIVE INSPECTOR W. J.
SKARDON
Metropolitan
Police
WIT H the demobilisation of the Armed Forces proceeding at a
steady-perhaps,
from some points of view, at an
alarming-rate,
hundreds of police officers are returning to Constabularies all over
Britain. Perhaps some of these men were anxious to serve their country
more actively; some to gain excitement not to be found on a beat;
others were selected or directed to work elsewhere. And now this
stream of trained men, reduced by the various incidents of war, is
returning.
Theirs
has been the more fortunate lot.
They
have had the thrill
of battle, of new experience, of refreshing contacts with a different
world;
but
by their standard of conduct they have enhanced the
reputation of their profession, and for this alone they are worthy of
goodwill. Very few of them will want to be treated as heroes; most will
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