The Mentally Handicapped and the Police
| Published date | 01 July 1979 |
| Author | Stanley E. K. Hewitt |
| Date | 01 July 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7905200305 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
ST
ANLEY
E. K.
HEWITT
Staffordshire Police
THE
MENTALLY
HANDICAPPED
AND
THE POLICE
Why Should the Police be Interested?
Before I go on to argue why more police officers, in my opinion,
should take adeeper interest in the
mentally
handicapped, may I
briefly explain my own involvement in the subject?
It
is quite simple
really, I am a policeman
and
for twelve
and
a
half
years was the
parent
of a mentally handicapped child. Jackie,
our
daughter, was a
normal
child in
appearance
and
ahyperactive one.
It
was
not
until
shortly before she died
that
it was fully explained to my wife and I, by
a very understanding neuro-surgeon, why Jackie was handicapped
mentally. We were told
that
she had difuse damage to the peripheral
cells of her brain. We knew, for example,
that
she understood far
more
than
people would give her credit for
but
lacked the ability to
express herself in words. Should she hear the word
'milkman',
for
instance, without any
prompting
she'd go
and
look for
empty
milk
bottles
and
put
them by the back
door
for collection.
Jackie always wanted to help. She was very fond of people. Most
mentally retarded persons
are
of a loving nature. They
trust
people
and
are
innocent and unaware of the devious ways of others.
However they often remember people who break their confidence
and
double cross them. In September last year (1978) I sat in on one
of the lectures given by Prof.
John
Stead, professor of comparative
police science at
John
Jay
College of Criminal Justice, New York.
The lecture was one of a series on 'The History of Policing in the
United Kingdom'
and
in this particular one he mentioned
Johnathan
Wilde who used to
mark
XX against the name of any of his
henchmen he suspected was
not
turning
over to him all the loot of a
previous days crime. Prof. Stead, who was formerly
dean
of
academic studies at the Police College Bramshill
and
one time
editor
of this
journal,
went on to give
more
details of crime in England in the
early eighteenth century. He told his American students how thief
makers would get stupid boys to
commit
acrime
and
then get the
bounty
for his conviction.
After his lecture Irejoined Prof. Stead
and
told
him
that
he
had
unwittingly
touched
upon
the subject which concerns me. Bringing
the
matter
up to
date
there is evidence,
not
only
from
America,
but
from quiet corners of England, like Broadway Worcestershire,
that
mentally handicapped persons
are
induced to be the patsy, fall guy,
July
1979 243
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