Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/352

336 POLICE loiter or to be in a public place for the purpose of prostitution or solicitation to the annoyance of the inhabitants or passengers. Elsewhere the offence is in much the same terms included in the Police of Towns Clauses Act, 1S47, and is so applied to all urban authorities under the Public Health Act, 1875.. In the practical application of the law it is generally considered that there must be some evidence of a personal annoyance by and to one or more persons to justify a conviction. The preceding survey of some of the multifarious func tions of a police force affords an illustration of Bentham s classification of the business of police into distinct branches : police for the prevention of offences ; police for the prevention of calamities ; police for the prevention of endemic diseases ; police of charity ; police of interior communications ; police of public amusements ; police for recent intelligence and information. No attempt, how ever, is made in the present article to follow such classifica tion. It would lead the reader astray, where the object is to treat principally of the police force. Area of As to the defined area of police action, for general action, purposes the legal rights and powers of a police force (subject to the observations already made) are coextensive with the police district. In the metropolitan police dis trict the members of the force have the powers of con stables in the adjoining counties (10 Geo. IV. c. 44, 4 ; 2 & 3 Viet. c. 47, 5). The determination of the geographical area of a police district is necessarily governed by a variety of circum stances. Physical features have sometimes to be taken into account as affecting the demarcations of intercourse, more frequently the occupations of the people and the amount of the population. A district may be too confined or too large for police purposes. The limited ideas of simple-minded rustics of a former generation whose views of complete independence consisted in inhabiting two adjacent rooms in different parishes, so as to effectually baffle the visits of parochial officers, is probably a notion of the past ; but obstructions of a like kind may arise from too narrow boundaries. On the other hand dense popula tions or long-accustomed limits may outweigh convenience arising from a wide area. In any case the making of altogether new boundaries merely for police purposes is very undesirable. The county, or divisions of a comity or city, or the combination of parishes, ought to be and are sufficient for determining the boundaries of a police district. A boundary, more over, that does not admit of ready application for rating is impracticable. In England, Wales, and Scotland, with the exception of the metropolitan police district and the area of the City of London (geographically included within but distinct from it in police government), the police districts are for the most part identical in area with the counties. Large towns have police forces distinct from the county force surrounding them. There are 290 police forces in the island, a number liable to frequent variation, as separate forces are created or existing forces are combined, for which powers exist Strength By far the largest and most important force, as regards the char- of police acter of both area and numbers, is that of the metropolitan police force. district, comprising 20 divisions. The total number of the police (including of course the county constabulary) for England and Wales for the year ending 29th September 1883 was 34,488, an increase on the previous year of 1315. During the last decade the increase in the total number of the police, allowing for the aug mented population, is trifling. The following are the numbers composing the different forces in 1882-83 : x In boroughs under the Municipal Corporation Act and under local Acts 9,685 In counties 11,255 Metropolitan police constables, including royal dockyards.. 12,663 CityofLondon 885 Total 34,488 The total gives one constable for every 774 of the population, according to the census of 1881. In boroughs, &c., there is 1 for every 758 ; in counties 1 for 1231 ; in the metropolitan police district (deducting 807, the number employed in royal dockyards, and 446 paid for by public companies and private individuals) 1 for every 413 ; and in the City of London 1 for every 57 of the City population, as enumerated on the night of the census of 1881. The total number, exclusive of the commissioner and assistant commissioners, belonging to the metropolitan police force on the 1st January 1884 was 12,404, comprising 10,741 constables, 1028 sergeants, 608 inspectors, 24 divisional superintendents, 1 chief superintendent (of the criminal investigation department), and 2 district superintendents. The strength of the police force in proportion to population varies considerably in each county of Scotland, ranging for the year ended 15th March 1884 from 1 in 731 in Selkirk to 1 in 2438 in Banff. In burghs it varies from 1 in 532 in Edinburgh and 1 in 535 in Glasgow to only 1 in upwards of 1500 of the population in the smallest burghs. The strength of the royal Irish constabulary on the 1st July 1882, the geographical area of which comprises all Ireland, con sisted of 258 officers and 13,750 men, and it was subsequently increased to 14,601 of all ranks. The equal distribution of the force throughout a district Distr not a uniform distribution either as to area or population, tion. but equal in accordance with wants is one of the greatest difficulties in the administration of a police force. It is not merely that recruits must be sought for to keep pace with increase or variations of population, but daily and hourly events necessitate daily and hourly changes of dis tribution. The duty is not merely to draw off men from adjacent divisions to the spot for a few hours, where they can be best spared, but to fill places where required. It must be remembered that extra work by day incapacitates men for the night watch, and it takes days to restore the equilibrium. It is needless to say that, although the services of the police force may not be required to aid in the extinction of a fire, their presence is required in great numbers to preserve order ; and thus men are necessarily kept on duty beyond their prescribed hours. Xor, in many of these cases, whether foreseen or unforeseen, is the distribution of the force self-adjusting. Let all do what they may in aid through all ranks of the force, in equalities must occur ; and before the gaps are made up a fresh displacement occurs. Much may be done and is done by a system of reserves, and by averaging the yearly extra calls on the time of a force ; but after all there is no perfect equality. The peacefully slumbering citizen may be startled by the announcement that, although the force of the metropolitan police district has been under anxious management for upwards of half a century, on no two nights since its formation have the beats been patrolled to precisely the same extent. The police system of necessity involves the existence in Stati a district of police stations or lock-ups, for the temporary detention of prisoners ; and magistrates have generally the power to remand prisoners to these for short periods. Power to make police stations occasional courts of sum mary jurisdiction has been recently conferred on county magistrates. A police power of admitting arrested persons to bail in petty cases, with a corresponding duty to exercise the power, is vested in the police in authority at stations. This power has existed throughout the metropolitan police district from the first establishment of the police on its present footing, and also in the City of London and in many populous places under local Acts ; and the principle has been recently extended to the country. The selection of persons for the force is a matter subject Q to general as well as special regulations, varying in each fo c f a district according to circumstances of place and time. yj ce Testimonials as to character and antecedents should be and are in practice always required. For health a medical examination is enforced; as to general education, reading and writing are usually required : special education for police duties is necessarily unattainable before entry, but

in the metropolitan police force of England approved