The Status of the Police
| Date | 01 April 1954 |
| Published date | 01 April 1954 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X5402700206 |
| Author | F. Elmes |
| Subject Matter | Article |
117
THE
POLICE
JOURNAL
little
man'
by his Counsel who, whilst
not
denying the gravity
of
an assault by stabbing with a bayonet, pointed
out
that
:--
(a)
the
crime was quite motiveless:
(b) accused had killed his
friend-with
whom
he had had no
quarrel;
(c) he
had
made
no
attempt
to evade responsibility except
that
from
the start
...
(d)
he had pleaded
that
he thought what he was stabbing was a
dummy,
and
(e)
Donoghue
was
drunk
enough-if
he was as
drunk
as Meaney
(who had, according to the evidence,
drunk
less) to have been
too
confused to appreciate
that
the act he was indulging in
involved the killing
of
a man.
Mr. Christmas Humphreys said
that
the
Director
of
Public Prose-
cutions had considered there was insufficient evidence to proceed on
acharge
of
murder
and,
in consultation with Mr.
John
Maude, was
prepared to accept a plea
of
guilty to manslaughter. Dr. J. C. M.
Matheson, Principal Medical Officer at Brixton Prison, who examined
Donoghue
on reception, had submitted the view
"that
the degree
of
drunkenness present at the time
of
the alleged offence was such
that
he could have mistakenly believed he was, in fact,
stabbing
a
dummy
and
not
a
human
being".
The
Judge agreed
and
Donoghue
received
asentence
of
3years' imprisonment.
The Status
of
the Police
By
SUPERINTENDENT
F.
ELMES,
Dorset Constabulary
AChief Constable lecturing recently at the Police College
under
the title given to this article raised considerable controversy by
using as his main theme atheory
that
the status
of
the Police as a
whole is closely linked with the social
standing
of
its officers, inspectors
and
above. It is a fascinating theory, opening up all sorts
of
delight-
fully arguable issues, including methods
of
selection for
promotion,
higher training,
and
even ways
and
means
of
acquiring aprivate
income as an aid to policing
through
social climbing! Anything
which provokes
thought
and
self-criticism is a useful contribution to
aproblem which remains to the Police Service unsolved. Is the status
of
policing (which is really far more
important
than
that
of individual
police officers)
too
high,
too
low, or
about
right?
1s the trend
today
upwards or
downwards?
Opinions are as
many
as they are varied.
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