Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/353

Rh POLICE 337 candidates are admitted on probation, and drilled. When finally approved of, on admission to the force they make a declaration, as already stated, to duly serve. Discipline is enforced by dismissal, reprimand, fines, removal to another division, or degradation in rank. Violation or neglect of duty may be punished by summary conviction. For the detection of crime and offences it is obviously necessary that some members of the force should perform their duties out of uniform. Some are constantly employed as detectives, others doff their official dress on emergencies. In the English metropolis the detective officers form a distinct branch of the police service, called the criminal investigation department. One of the assistant commis sioners of the metropolitan police attends specially to this department, to which a chief superintendent and a separate staff of inspectors and sergeants are attached, having an office in Scotland Yard, with officers of the department placed in the divisions of the district. The qualifications of the principal officers are special, and they are selected for their aptitude, knowledge of foreign languages, and a variety of circumstances rendering the application of the ordinary routine of training undesirable and imprac ticable. Constables and sergeants of the department are selected from the general body of the force. Officers of the detective department of the metropolis in the per formance of their various duties travel all over the globe, to foreign states as well as to the colonies. The number of detective officers in England and Wales for 1882-83 was 551. The chiefs of the metropolitan police force are the com missioner and three assistant commissioners, one acting in place of a director of criminal investigations, who has recently retired. A legal adviser to the commissioners is appointed by the secretary of state. Besides the divisional superintendents, there are now two district superintendents, who visit the whole of the divisions. All promotions in the service up to the rank of superintend ent are made from the next rank below. When vacancies occur the rule is to recommend to the commissioner those best qualified in all respects, seniority of service being duly considered ; but an educational examination by the civil service commissioners is requisite. A different standard and subject of examination is provided for each rank : (1) constables for sergeants; (2) sergeants for inspectors; (3) inspectors for superintendents. Orders having the approval of the secretary of state for the government of the police of the metropolis in a variety of matters are printed and issued daily throughout the district. The majority of these orders relate to incidents and contingencies of the passing hour, and affect particular divisions ; others are of a permanent character and require attention throughout the district. Such orders form the practice of the police in almost all matters of detail either not specifically regulated by Act of Parliament or requiring explanation and elucidation ; and, if they are carefully considered and prepared, their issue must produce a uniform code of police procedure for the force. The cost of a police system is defrayed from a fund formed by local rates or by imperial funds, or both, and in part by the appropriation of fines and the fees payable by law in respect of the performance of individual duties, but not permitted to be retained by the performer. This fund is collected and expended through the medium of a receiver, treasurer, or other officer, and a staff of clerks, with the aid of the superintendents, inspectors, and police officers. The regulation and amount of the salaries (which are generally paid weekly or monthly according to the class), depend of course on local and other circumstances, but do not vary frequently. Where agriculture is the general occupation the pay of members of the force is low. Where mining and manufactures compete with agri culture it is higher; where they are the principal business they create a demand for labour which raises the salary of the constable as well as those of other workers. The pay of the constables of the metropolitan district varies from 62, 11s. 6d. to 83, 8s. 7d. per annum, that of the sergeants from 88, 12s. lid. to 146, of the inspectors from 88, 12s. lid. to 351, 19s. 4d. The metropolitan police constable is subject to deductions for pension, and he contributes on the average about 2d. a week to gratui ties for the widows or orphans of comrades who have recently died, and is under a rent of about 3s. 6d. if single and living out of the section house, and about 6s. 6d. a week if married. Analogous conditions exist in all the great city forces. The Liverpool constable begins with 26s. 8d. a week ; 8d. a week is deducted at first, and lOd. after a short period, towards pension fund ; an average of 4s. a week is spent on the lodgings of a single, and from 5s. 6d. to 7s. 6d. on those of a married man. Model scales of pay which were suggested by the secretary of state in 1879 have been adopted by several county forces in Scotland, but not in burghs. In addition to fixed salaries, the police system generally Rewards, provides for rewards for extraordinary diligence and gratuities out of the police fund. Gifts or payments to individual officers by private persons ought to be con trolled in a well-regulated system, where good conduct and vigilance ought to be closely watched to ensure pro motion in due time. Specially meritorious acts, however, are sometimes admitted for pecuniary recognition by magistrates, or representative bodies. In England the police are not now permitted to participate in Government or other rewards for the discovery of crime. Provision is almost invariably made for pensions by a fund formed by a scale of deductions from pay, as already stated, and to some extent by fines. The general subject of super annuation is, however, too large to be entered upon here. For the ordinary services of the police within their local jurisdiction no charge should fall on particular persons who happen to derive special advantage from such police duty. It is a general benefit for which in one form or another the inhabitants are taxed. Other incidental expenditure in the performance of Incidental duties is met in various ways. The heavy cost connected expenses, with the conveyance of prisoners to and from prison on committal and remand is in England, except in Middlesex, borne by the state, being paid by the prison commissioners. The preliminary cost attending the arrest in the first instance is generally borne by the police fund. In some exceptional cases where the police perform special duties beyond their district, the cost is thrown on individuals putting the law in motion. Thus the costs incurred under extradition treaties and under the Fugitive Offenders Act in following criminals and bringing them back within the jurisdiction for trial where the offence was committed or arose are not expressly provided for by statute ; but the regulations laid down by the secretary of state require all costs to be paid by applicants in the case of fugitive offenders. The police have special powers in furtherance of their Special duties ; even the exemption from toll (not now of general powers, value) has that aspect. They are not only exempted but disqualified from various local offices as interfering with the time and attention required for the full performance of their duties. Rules of the service generally forbid con stables following any trade or occupation of profit even when not on actual duty, and in the metropolitan police district of London this disqualification extends in practice to their wives. The police are protected in the discharge of XIX -43