THE NEW POLICE-BILL.
THERE are two distinct powers at present exercised by our police- magistrates,—they hear and determine, as judges, a numerous class of petty offences ; and they I ake preliminary examinations in graver delicts, with a view to prepare for the trial of the criminals at the Sessions or the Old Bailey. It is in the exercise of the latter power that they are to be considered as police magistrates ; in the former they only do what any justice of the peace could do as well, per- haps better. There is a third power, or privilege rather, which all of them claim, and exercise even more frequently than those with which they are legally invested,—that is, the privilege of gos- siping on all manner of subjects with every trifler whose time is abundant and whose brains are few, and who prefers talking over his grievances with the magistrate and the penny-a-line men to seeking for their remedy. Now we conceive that the first thing to be done in order to render the police efficient, is to separate alto- gether the judicial and police functions,—to leave the former to the 'ordinary magistrates in town, as they are left to the ordinary ma- gistrates in the country ; and to reserve the latter only for the police magistrates. By this means, instead of twelve offices, be- tween which there is little or no connexion or co-operation, two, or at the utmost three offices, in close and perpetual communication, and forming in fact but one board, would suffice. The next great improvement is to give the police magistrate complete control over the subordinates whom he employs. To deny him that power, is not more ridiculous than it would be to send a soldier into the field with his musket in a case and the key in the hands of the church- warden. At present, if a watchman be guilty of the grossest neg- lect, the magistrate cannot discharge him: if. in the pretended ex- ercise of his duty, he commit the most unprovoked assault on an innocent passenger, there is no redress but the Sessions. Now, a police magistrate ought not only to have authority to dismiss a watchman for neglect, but to send him to the tread-mill for six months for misconduct. The administration of the police, so far as its own agents are concerned, ought to be strictly military. The watchman at present is a person who calls the hours and sleeps on the step of a door. The calling of the hour is meant as a warn- ing to the thief to lie snug, until the enemy is gone by ; the sleep- ing in doorways is a pleasant method of avoiding the solicitations of the true man in case he should stand in need of assistance. Be- sides, a man awaking out of a sound nap is necessarily confused, and contingently angry,—both excellent and never-failing excuses for knocking clown the complainant in order that the pickpocket may escape. Watchmen ought to be, as their name signifies, "men who keep watch:' They ought to be police sentries ; and they ought to he as vigilant and as regular in pacing their respec- tive beats as other sentries are. The watch ought, we have already said, to be military in its organization: We confess we are sur- prised to find some of our contemporaries of a different opinion. They talk of the " liberty of the subject"—as if the liberty of the subject could possibly he infringed by the adoption of regularity and order among those who are appointed to protect it. Can any one doubt that the drunkenness, stupidity, and ignorance of the watch, and the consequent contempt in which they are held, are the grand causes why, instead of men disciplined to obedience, actual soldiers are of necessity so often employed to keep the peace? For our part, we have always found that the more strictly-regu- lated men are, in the same proportion is their respect for the rights of others, when those 'rights, do not interfere with' the exercise of
their duties. We would therefore say, let there be a corporal to „• every ten watchmen ; a sergeant to every three or four corporals; a
lieutenantto every three or tour sergeants ; a captain to every. three or four lieutenants; and let thevhole of these, mediately or mime- diatrslle, be in perpetual communication with one general superinten- ond the superintendent with the magistrates. As custodes ens- todium, let there be district inspectors, to go round at irregular inter- vals both night and day, and report to the magistrates the state of the watch-houses and of the watch, both officers and men. And as a further security, let the whole of the various officiaries be selected strictly and impartially from the ranks ; so that any intelligent, active, and honest watchmen, may not unreasonably hope to rise through a succession of grades to be a captain of police.
We have only glanced over Mr. PEEL'S speech ; and not having. seen his Bill, we cannot of course speak in detail of the proposed alterations. The speech is worthy of a second perusal: it is a plain, sensible, well-argued document. All we wish is, that the bill may go far enough ; and it will not do so unless it sweep away nine- tenths of the present establishment. both superior and subordinate.
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