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("Daily Press" of 20th April, 1870.)
It would be impossible in the space of a single article to throroughly review the lenghthy Report upon Police matters, which has been issued by Mr. CREAGH, the Acting Superintendent of the Force. The document in question is almost avowedly an elabo- rate laudation of the Executive and especially of Governor MACDONNELL for the improve- ment which, it is claimed, has been effected during the term of His Excellency's ad- ministration. It might, however, be more accurately styled a defence of the present lamentably defective state of the Force. With regard to the statistics upon which reli- ance was placed in the statement made by the Governor at the Legislative Council, it will, in due course, be shown that they positively prove nothing, and that the manner in which the returns are prepared, and the deductions which are made from them, are alike defective, and calculated to mislead.
Before entering upon this part of the subject, it is necessary to note certain circum- stances which have to be borne in mind in considering the comparative efficiency of the Police Force in 1865 and 1869. The first and most important is its increased cost, the expense being now nearly double what it was in the former year. Next we have to consider the aid given to the Police properly so called by the creation of auxiliary Forces such as the Dock Yard Police and District Watchmen; and lastly the immense powers which have been invested in the Executive and Judicial authorities during the past five years to facilitate the action of the Police must not be omitted. A glance at the many penal laws passed within this period will suffice to prove that the present inefficiency is not in any way attributable to the want of power to produce the desired effect. Ordi- nance 12 of 1865, passed for the further security of the residents in this Colony from personal violence," authorized three public whippings of 50 lashes each, and Ordinance 1 of 1866 legalized solitary confinement. Ordinance 7 of the same year prohibits all Chinamen from leaving their houses after 9 P. M. unless provided with Police Passes. Ordinance 9 of 1866 taken with number 12 of the next year, for the more effectual sup- pression of Piracy, authorized trial without a jury, and the punishing of false witnesses without trial, indictment or any other formality whatever, while the first Ordinance for the following year, 1868, sanctioned the branding of offenders. Ordinance 3 of 1868 em- powers Magistrates to award as much as two years' imprisonment, with or without whipping and solitary confinement.
Reference must here also be made to the various laws framed from time to time for the "maintenance of order," which confer immense powers on the Police, authorizing arrest generally without warrant, and which further permit the Magistrates to punish all such as are arrested, although no specific charge can be proved against them. It will thus be seen that many of the fundamental Laws forming a part of the British constitution, which for centuries have been so jealously guarded, have been made to give way to the exigencies of our situation. Practically we have given over to the Executive our rights and privileges as citizens, and all we ask in return is effective protection, which can only be guaranteed by a really efficient Police. Despite anything that may be shown by the statistics which include as "serious" crimes, a variety of comparatively light offences, such as larceny and unlawful possession there is not the slightest question that so long as highway robbery prevails, the protection afforded cannot but be considered inadequate. All eminent authorities on crime agree that the above-named class of outrage at least disappears from the category as soon as the system of Police become efficient." But only a couple of weeks ago a case of this nature occurred about midday near one of our prin- cipal streets. The circumstances, however, in connection therewith disclosed in a remarkable degree the lamentably defective qualities of the Police Force in the perform- ance of its most important function, namely, the detection of crime in time to prevent the designs of criminals being put into execution; for when two or three active members of the Force exerted themselves, they not only succeeded in arresting the band who committed this crime, but they for the first time discovered and arrested another gang, the principal members of which were nearly all "old offenders." Surely with an effi- ciently organized detective staff, such characters could be kept under an effective sur- veillance, more particularly as according to the powers given to the Police, they need not wait for a crime to be committed, possessing as they do most ample authority to arrest all suspected characters. Mr. CREAGH'S argument against a detective force because it would be impossible for it to be established at out-stations on the mainland and at Macao, is very much like a man in England saying that he sees no use in keeping a watch dog, because he has a notion that the Channel Fleet is not quite so effective as might be wished.