CHAPTER I

THE MACHINERY OF THE LAW

The police and their duties--Divided control--Need for knowledge of local peculiarities--The fear of "corruption"--The police cell-- Cleanliness and discomfort--Insufficient provision of diet, etc.--The casualty surgeon--The police court--The untrained magistrate--The assessor--Pleas of "guilty"--Case--Apathy of the public--Agents for the Poor--The prison van--The sheriff court--The procurator-fiscal-- Procedure in the higher courts--The Scottish jury.

To the majority of people the living representative of the law is the policeman. It is his duty to protect the citizens from evil-doers, and to arrest offenders. He is the subject of a good deal of chaff, but his position is generally respected; and although men get into the force who by temper and experience are quite unsuited for their work, the great majority discharge the duties laid upon them in a manner that is surprisingly satisfactory, when the demands made upon them are taken into account. They are supposed to have a knowledge of the law, and for practical purposes they must know something of medicine in order that they may give first aid to the injured; they are expected to be able to answer questions of an exceedingly miscellaneous nature when asked by the passing stranger; and they require to be always cool and clear-headed, to be ready for any emergency, and to have a temper that nothing can ruffle. If they have enough of these desirable qualifications to satisfy the authorities they may receive a salary for their services rather better than that given to the unskilled labourer.

That efforts are made to obtain good men for the post is undeniable. That these efforts are always so enlightened or so successful as they might be is not so certain. In Glasgow, for instance, a standard of height is set up which excludes the vast majority of Glasgow-bred men from this occupation. In some parts of the country men go to flesh and bone, and they are big-framed and brawny; but this is not the case in the town. Yet a man's height offers no presumption of his fitness for any position involving the exercise of judgment. A minimum 5 ft. 6 in. includes all the 5 ft. 7 in. and 5 ft. 8 in. men; and a minimum 5 ft. 9 in. excludes all these and limits the choice of candidates very much. It is not the best men to act as guardians to the public peace that are sought, but the best men amongst those of a certain height; and this is bound to lower the standard of efficiency. Indeed, the higher the standard of height the lower the standard of efficiency will tend to become, because of the limitation of choice implied.

The police force is a civil force and ought to be entirely under the control of the citizens through their representatives, but this civil force is not formed on any conception of civic needs. It is organised on a military model, and subject to inspection by a military man on whose reports to the Secretary of State its efficiency is decided. Nobody seems to think of asking what such an inspector knows of the needs of the district whose police he inspects. His training enables him to tell when a man carries himself well and turns out his toes nicely, and the ability of the police to do so is aided by their going to inspection in new uniforms; so that the inspector sees a number of men in new clothes, and decides by their bearing their fitness to act as policemen. This condition of things enables a man to earn a salary who might otherwise be unemployed, and if it stopped there the absurdity might be worth the money; but when a police force is to be judged and their grants to be graduated, not according to their knowledge of the work, but according to the ignorance of their inspectors, there is likely to be trouble. If the police require to pay more attention to the inspector who can stop their grant than to representatives of the citizens in whose service they are supposed to act, it is a bad thing for the police and for the citizens.

Every district has its own peculiarities, not observed by those who live there because of custom, but noticed by strangers and sometimes disapproved by them. It is an advantage, therefore, that those set in positions of authority should be acquainted with the customs and manners of the people among whom they live. A policeman will discharge his duties with more comfort to himself, more credit to the force, and greater benefit to the community if he knows those in the district in which his duties lie. Unless he is in touch with the law-abiding elements therein, unless he knows them and has their confidence and support, in many cases he will not be in a position to distinguish between conduct that is harmless and conduct that is criminal. For instance, it is well known that professional thieves depend largely on their coolness and daring for their success. If "thief" were written all over them they would starve, and they only earn their living because, to those who are personally unacquainted with them, they are not distinguishable from honest men. The policeman knows this; and if he sees a person coming out of business premises long after business hours, he quite naturally questions that person by look or by word. If he does not know whether the person has a right to be there he may make a fool of himself, either by arresting a man who has had legitimate business on the premises or by letting a thief get away. He is on the horns of a dilemma in which he should not be placed.

Again, supposing complaints have been made about lads loitering around certain closes or corners, and the policeman has been instructed to have this stopped. If he knows the inhabitants of his beat he is able to discriminate between those who have a certain right to be about the place and those against whom the complaint is directed. If he does not know them he may reprimand or arrest the wrong people altogether, causing trouble for himself and widespread irritation that need never have been aroused. Those who have been affronted or injured do not take his difficulties into account; and it may be that those who are responsible for placing him in what is, after all, a false position, have not sufficiently considered the evil results caused thereby.

The military habit of assuming that every man is like every other man, and shifting people about like so many dolls, has its disadvantages in civil life. It does make a difference whether the man set to do a certain duty is acquainted with the conditions in which he is placed or is ignorant of them. Even at the door of a court not only discretion but knowledge is necessary on the part of the door-keeper, and from neglect to recognise this simple fact a Sheriff has been stopped at the door of a High Court; a Procurator-Fiscal after thirty years' service in the court has been refused admission; and the medical officer in attendance has had to demand to see a superintendent before he could get in. If such things are possible in cases like these, it is quite clear a good deal of trouble and annoyance, and possibly a good deal of injustice, may result in quarters which cannot be said to be influential.

It has been said that it is advisable to move men about from one district and from one duty to another in order to prevent their possible corruption; but the men are neither so stupid nor so bad as this reason would imply. The person who is corrupt will carry his corrupt tendencies with him over a wider area and be quite as dangerous there; for the less he is known the more readily will his personal defects escape supervision and criticism on the part of those among whom he works; and it is better that he should be discovered and dismissed than that the great mass of policemen, who are neither stupid nor corrupt, but who are honestly seeking to discharge their duty in such a manner as to gain them the goodwill of their fellow-citizens, should have their work rendered unnecessarily arduous and difficult. Too much is expected of them considering the opportunities they are allowed, and their faults are due more to the system by which they are ruled than to any personal defects on the part of the men. Anything that will bring that system more intimately in touch with the needs of the community and more sympathetically in contact with the difficulties of the poorer classes will help towards the efficiency and also the comfort of the force.

When a person is arrested on any criminal charge he is first taken to the local police station, where the charge is entered. He is searched and placed in a cell, and if there is anything special in the charge against him, or in his appearance and behaviour, his treatment may be modified accordingly. In the great majority of cases the person arrested is only a petty offender at most. If he has money sufficient, he may hand it over as bail and be released with a notice that if he does not appear at a time and place specified his money will be forfeited and he may again be taken into custody. If he or his friends cannot leave a pledge for his appearance he makes acquaintance with the routine of administration. He becomes the tenant of a cell where he remains till the sitting of the court next morning. If the cell accommodation is fully taken up he may have company; and while every effort is made to prevent old offenders being placed in the same cell with those who are in for the first time, the best that can be done is bad.

Although prisoners are presumed to be innocent till they are found guilty, they are in many respects worse treated while waiting to be sent to prison than after they arrive there. This is not the fault of the police so much as that of the authorities who are responsible for the accommodation or the want of it. A drunk man may be a very helpless or a very intractable person, and little can be done for him till he is sober. His condition is such that it is quite clearly not the best practice to put him in a cell and leave him there. It is no uncommon thing to find that the drunkenness has masked some more serious condition; but even although there should be nothing behind his intoxication, the man is more liable to contract illness than a sober person. In less enlightened countries than ours such prisoners are not left alone, but are kept warm and placed under observation till they are sober. In our country they are less carefully treated. Drunk or sober the prisoner is in an uncomfortable position.

The police have difficulties to contend with that are not present in the prisons. The prisoners they arrest are not appreciably more dirty than when they arrive at the prison, but in the police cells there are not the same facilities for making and keeping things clean. There is no supply of free labour and not a generous provision of paid cleaners, and the cells in some cases seem to be constructed more with a view to saving the expense of cleaning than to providing for the reasonable custody of prisoners. Wooden floors are less easily cleaned than asphalt or cement, and both in the prisons and the police cells this seems to determine their construction. It is a piece of senseless cruelty in a climate such as ours, as anyone can easily find out for himself if he cares to try. In such a place even in warm weather it is difficult to keep the feet warm, and cold feet do not improve a man's temper.

The newer cells are lined with glazed brick in deference to some sanitary notions. It is a great pity that the apostles of sanitation cannot be compelled to live in the places they design. No doubt the glazed walls are more easily cleaned than whitewashed brick would be, but they strike a chill into the occupants of the place, and moisture condenses on them in a way that it does not elsewhere. Cleanliness let us have by all reasonable means, but to be clean it is not necessary to be uncomfortable; and such methods are enough to disgust with cleanliness those who have to submit to their results. Another objectionable feature of the cell is the presence of a water-closet in it. Surely the sanitary expert has been napping when this was arranged; but here again the matter seems to be one of expense. The reasonable way would be to escort prisoners to a place when necessary, but that would mean the provision of a proper staff of warders. The cell is otherwise unfurnished save for a raised slab of wood which takes the place of a bed. There is no bedding provided. It is a barbarous provision for the man who is presumed to be innocent. As for his diet, there is none prescribed. He may have food sent in or he may have money to purchase it. If not, he will have to get along on bread and water, not having been proved guilty. In the morning he will be brought before the court, and if he asks for it he may have water to wash himself before appearing there. Cleanliness is not enforced, though it may be encouraged; but judging by their appearance when admitted to prison, not many have sought the water-basin during their stay in the police cell.

By the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1908, it was provided that persons should not be kept in police cells for more than one night, and all persons remanded were sent to prison, to their distinct advantage; for there the staff and conditions are arranged for the custody of prisoners, and they are free for the time being from the noises incidental to the arrest and confinement of drunken persons, while they have a better chance of having their needs attended to. This procedure entailed more work on the officials, a difficulty that could easily have been overcome by a small increase in the staff. It meant not more trouble than is necessitated in the case of persons remitted to higher courts, and if the interests of the prisoners who are presumed to be innocent had been considered the Act would have remained in force; but their convenience was not represented so powerfully as that of the officials, and reversion to the old, bad plan of retaining prisoners in the custody of the police has taken place. They may be kept in the police cells for forty-eight hours.

Some of those who are arrested may be suffering from injuries or disease. To attend these a casualty surgeon is employed. When he is asked to do so, it is his duty to call and see prisoners who complain or who are obviously