=Source.=--_Treatise on the Magistracy of England_, by Edward
Mullins. London, 1836.
_Commissioners' Report on Police._
"The constable is most commonly an uneducated person, from the
class of petty tradesmen or mechanics, and in practice is usually
nominated by his predecessor on going out of office. No inquiry
takes place into his qualification or fitness for the office, and
indeed he is said to be often the person in the parish the most
likely to break the peace. So common is it for the constable to
be unable to write or read, that an improper fee is often charged
upon that ground by the Magistrate's clerk, 'for making out the
constable's bill for conveyance to gaol.'
"'The manner of appointing constables, in my opinion,' says a
correspondent, 'might be advantageously altered, for the court
leet jury and steward being irresponsible parties, and the jurymen
(vulgarly called Tom-fool's men) not liking the burthen themselves,
often appoint persons of _bad character_, and sometimes for the
purpose of keeping them off the parish.' If respectable persons are
sometimes chosen at the Leet, they 'find substitutes for a _small
sum_, and these deputies blunder through the year, and when they
are most wanted are never to be found.' What integrity or propriety
of conduct can there be expected from one whose necessity renders
every shilling that is offered him an irresistible temptation?
"Entirely ignorant of his duties when first appointed, the parish
constable is often displaced at the end of the year, when his
acquaintance with them is, perhaps, beginning to improve. Even
when suited in other respects to the employment, his efficiency
is always in a great measure impaired by the nature of his
position with regard to those among whom he is called upon to
act. Belonging entirely to their class, and brought into constant
contact with them by his ordinary occupations, he is embarrassed
in the discharge of his duty by considerations of personal safety,
interest or feeling, and by an anxiety to retain the good will
of his neighbours. When all these circumstances are considered,
it would, indeed, be surprising if the constables were found to
render satisfactory service. In point of fact they are deficient in
zeal and activity to a degree which it is difficult to exaggerate,
and it may be said, without undue severity, that they are in all
respects utterly unfit for the duties to which they are appointed.
"The accuracy of this statement, we believe (continue the
Commissioners) will be generally admitted by those who have
opportunities of becoming acquainted with the subject by personal
observation. 'No person can be aware,' says the treasurer of
the West Riding of Yorkshire, 'of the reluctance shewn by the
parish constables in apprehending felons, particularly since the
disposition shewn by the lower orders to retaliate by committing
destruction on their property.' 'There is not a single constable,'
he afterwards adds, 'who dares move, nor has he any encouragement
to move, and if he does move, he is quite incompetent.'
"'We cannot go on in the country,' says another witness, 'with
our present police; when there is the least danger we are obliged
immediately to call out the special constables.' 'The present
system of parochial police,' says another, 'is unsound; it consists
of a constable in each parish, who has very often to make his
election between violating his duty as a constable, and forfeiting
the regard and affection of his neighbours.' '_The great end of
police is to prevent crime_,' is the remark of another gentleman of
great experience on this subject, 'and who ever heard of this being
the object of the present force? They are worse than useless.'
"The frauds, extortion, embezzlement and pillage practised by these
officers are the natural consequence of their situation. They
charge for assistants when they are accompanied only by their wives
or by poor labourers, to whom they pay the common farmers' day
wages, receiving the county allowance and retaining the difference.
"They charge for carriages when they compel prisoners to walk to
gaol; they receive the full mileage for all the witnesses attending
a prosecution, and contract with coaches to carry them at half
price.
"They receive their allowance for time and trouble, and often keep
back a part; they pass stolen goods from hand to hand, so as to
make as many of themselves as possible necessary witnesses at the
trial; and what is matter of most serious charge against them, they
withhold, and it is said, in many instances appropriate, the money
and other valuable property found upon persons apprehended.
"'We have at Thirsk (observes a Yorkshire magistrate) an
association for the prosecution of felons, but it does little good,
as we have _no police_, and the _constables are extremely bad_--so
bad as to call forth many severe expressions on their inefficiency
by Baron Alderson, a short time ago at York, in the case of two
violent attempts at murder committed near Thirsk.'"
The Commissioners further report that, "It is the deliberate
opinion of a very valuable correspondent, that our constabulary
system has _greatly promoted_ the _increase_ of crime; that
no useful improvement can be introduced into the present
_miserable_ system of attempting to exercise police through parish
constables annually elected. 'Our constabulary system,' says this
correspondent, 'is so _absurd_ and _unjust_, that I really do not
think it fair or equitable to blame or deride the unfortunate
conscripts who are compelled to be tithingmen; if I did, I could
compose a _farce_ with the anecdotes to be collected of petty
occurrences in the warfare with offences in this neighbourhood;
neglect of duty, forgetfulness, ignorance, blunders, cowardice
without excuse, supineness,'" etc.
The current of evidence as to the decayed and worn-out state of the
parish constabulary system is irresistibly strong; and its defects
are the more striking when viewed in contrast with the improved
system of an organized and permanent police as established in many
parts of the kingdom.