Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/354

Rh 338 their duties in a variety of ways. Assaulting, resisting, or wilfully obstructing a peace officer in the due execu tion of his duty or any person acting in aid of such officer, and assaults with intent to resist or prevent lawful apprehension or detainer, are punishable summarily as well as upon indictment. Refusing to assist a constable in the execution of his duty in order to preserve the peace is an indictable misdemeanour at common law. The law specially provides for offences by the police in stealing or embezzling property entrusted to them in virtue of their employment (24 & 25 Viet. c. 96, 69, 70). Uniform. Wearing a distinctive dress or uniform in the general performance of duty is a matter of the highest import ance. It commands and has a very great effect in produc ing obedience and conformity to law and order, and in preventing violence, without the use of even a word or threat ; and it has a scarcely less important effect in pro tecting the public from the illegal or irregular action of the police when on duty, when the dress involves, as it ordinarily does, the exhibition on its exterior of a letter and number. Arms. The extent to which the individual members of a police force are allowed or required to be armed when on duty for the enforcement of the law or for their own protection from violence is a matter of important discretion ; for, although the principles of law, entailing or withholding the right of peace officers or private persons to employ weapons of offence, are comparatively well-defined, the emergency depends on a variety of circumstances on which it is extremely difficult for heads of forces to make regula tions for the guidance of the men. In general the only weapon carried about the person of a police constable is the familiar wooden staff of office of the peace officer, and that not in the hands openly, but in a sheath at his side and only drawn when required. The cost of the police in England and Wales for the year ending 29th September 1883, including salaries and pay, allowances, clothing and accoutrements, horses, harness, forage, buildings, station-house charges, printing, station ery, and other miscellaneous charges was 3,367,678, a net increase of XI 07, 598 as compared with the previous year. The cost of the separate forces for the year and the amounts contributed from the public revenue stand thus : Yearly cost. Total Charge. Contributed from Public Revenue. Borough police 857,863 379 210 County 1 101 621 435 133 Metropolitan police (including ) naval dockyards and military [ stations) &quot; ) 1,317,303 508,183 City of London 90 891 Total. . . . 3 367 678 1 3 9 2 526 Deducting the City of London police, towards which no contribution is paid from the public revenue, the propor tion of the amount so contributed was 39 5. But if the total charge for the metropolitan police is reduced by 131,560 received from public departments for special services rendered by the police, the proportion contributed from the public revenue, computed upon 1,185,743, was 42 8 per cent. All moneys received for the service of the metropolitan police between 1st April 1883 and the 31st March 1884 amounted to 1,469,930, 4s. 5d. Of this total the sum of 639,751, 7s. 4d. was derived from the metropolitan police rate, and 510,933 as the contribution from moneys voted by parliament of 4d. per 1 upon 30,663,903, the assessed rental of property in the metro politan police district. The pay, clothing, and equip- systen ments of the force from constables to superintendents was 1,024,587, 13s. 9d. In concluding this general account of the existing police system, it is well to mention that the old system of parish constables no longer exists as a general institution. As an auxiliary force, although not forming part of the establishment of a police system, special constables form an important resource in the preservation of the peace (see CONSTABLE). History of the Introduction of the British Police System. Ilistor It is a self-evident proposition that the duties of watch f Brit and ward, whether under the Statute of Winchester or otherwise (see CONSTABLE), demanded greater attention in populous places than in scattered hamlets. Neverthe less the inefficiency of the arrangements was notorious from an early period, and is well illustrated by the &quot; charge &quot; of a Dogberry and the graver complaints of Lord Burleigh of the dulness of constables. In relation to London alone its state down to 1828 forms a subject not without general interest (see LONDON). Here it must suffice to say that committees of the House of Commons in 1772, 1793, 1812, 1817, 1818, and 1822 produced facts tending to the formation, but with hesitation, of a police establish ment. To Dr Colquhoun, a magistrate, the chief merit is due of having, before the close of the 18th century, in a treatise On the Police of the Metropolis, drawn attention to the subject. He pointed out that police in England may be considered as a new science, the properties of which consist, not in the judicial powers which lead to punishment, and which belong to magistrates alone, but in the prevention and detection of crimes, and in those other functions which relate to internal regulations for the well-ordering and comfort of civil society. His work went through several editions in a very brief period. It was not, however, until 1828 that a committee of the House of Commons, appointed at the instance of Mr (afterwards Sir Robert) Peel, the home secretary, to inquire into the cause of the increase in the number of commitments and convic tions in London and Middlesex, and into the state of the police of the metropolis and of the districts adjoining, re ported that a decisive change should be made, and an efficient system of police instituted for the adequate protection of property, and for the prevention and detection of crime in the metropolis. In the following year the famous Act for improving the police in and near the metropolis was passed (10 Geo. IV. c. 44). The Act constituted a police district, excluding the City of London, with a radius of 12 miles. Two persons were constituted justices of the peace (afterwards called com missioners of police) to administer the Act under the immediate direction of a secretary of state, and having a police office in Westminster. This office, established in a room with a table and two chairs, in an outlet from Whitehall, is the origin (as regards police associations) of the far-famed &quot; Scotland Yard,&quot; with its now enlarged staff, but still inadequate structural arrangements. A sufficient number of &quot; able men &quot; (at first about 3000) constituted the force to whom were given, when sworn in, the common law powers, privileges, and duties of con stables for preserving the peace and preventing robberies and other felonies, and apprehending offenders against the peace, with the duty to obey the lawful commands of the commissioners. The district was formed into divisions and sections, and ranks established on the same general system as at present exists. A fund was created princi pally by rates on the district for the maintenance of the force, with rewards for extraordinary diligence and com pensation for injuries. As might have been anticipated, the introduction of the new system of police attracted great public attention. At