The Co-Operation between the Police and the Public in the Detection and Prosecution of Crime
| Published date | 01 July 1930 |
| Author | John Peake |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3000300306 |
| Date | 01 July 1930 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Co-operation between the Police
and the Public in the Detection
and Prosecution
of
Crime
By JOHN PEAKE
Inspector, Sheffield
City
Police
[This
is the Winning Essay of
the
King's
Gold
Medal
Essay Competition of
1929.
The
Report of
the
Council together with
the
other
awards appeared in
the
issue
of April 1930.
The
Rules for
the
Essay Competition for 1930 will be found on p.
480].
THE word crime, to the minds of members of the police
service and those engaged professionally in its detection
and prosecution, has a special significance, namely, that it
expresses those more serious infractions of Statute and Com-
mon Law for which an accused person has the right to a trial
by jury, and which can be referred to as felonies and indictable
misdemeanours.
Thus,
to the professional mind, there is a
wide difference between acts constituting crime, and the
multitude of minor offences such as street nuisances, motor-
car offences, and other similar offences.
To
the vast majority of members of the public, the word
crime expresses acts which represent revolt against law, the
assumption by a wrong-doer of the power to take, obtain, or
destroy the property of others, or inflict harm upon fellow-
beings even to the extent of death.
Thus,
in its wider inter-
pretation, crime must be considered as that which cannot
adequately be expressed by the term law-breaking.
The
standard of a nation in the eyes of the civilised world
is judged by the conduct of its inhabitants in matters affecting
the safety of persons living or travelling within its borders, and
the preservation of the rights of property.
In
the end, there-
fore, crime statistics must definitely be regarded as an impor-
tant factor in the evidence by which a nation must be judged
by the world at large, when the claims of that nation are
383
THE
POLICE
JOURNAL
considered in the light of the march of human welfare. Any
such claim by a nation as to the excellence of its culture, its
civilisation and morals, may be negatived when the conduct of
its people, as revealed by its statistics of crime, is placed in the
balance to be weighed.
For
this reason it should be apparent to the average
British citizen that no factor in the national life is charged
with such peril to the well-being of the race, as indifference to,
and consequently the toleration of, the will to commit those
acts which are covered by the term, crime.
At the outset, it must be assumed that the welfare of the
community is the ultimate object of citizenship.
Thus
the
facts mentioned are of paramount importance in considering
the subject-matter of this essay; it is primarily for these
reasons there is brought into the focus of thought the necessity,
so very urgent, for co-operation between the police and the
public in the detection and prosecution of crime.
It
cannot be stated as a fact that the measure of co-
operation at present existing is definitely satisfactory. Many
causes operate to impede effective co-operation, and the
problem will be to suggest how there may be infused into the
national conscience that spirit which will surmount existing
difficulties, and unite the trained forces of the law with the
powerful influences of public opinion and effort, in order that
the safety and security of life and property may be assured.
At this point it may be desirable to attempt to define what
the term ' the
public'
means. Obviously, while the general
body of citizens other than the police are for the purpose of
this essay' the public,'
it
must be acknowledged that there are
those who are law-abiding members of this public, and those
who are not.
It
is of importance, therefore, that law-abiding
citizens should realise the necessity for their co-operation with
the police, and it is upon this section of the public that there
devolves the duty of effort to secure improvement in the direc-
tion under review.
It
is also important that the citizens of the British Empire
should realise, as also should members of the police service,
that to neglect to co-operate in the suppression of criminal
acts is to condone and encourage them. An unchanging law
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