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were adopted in 1973 to combat this alarming situation.
On the professional Police side they included increase
in the strength of the uniformed Police from 12,219
at the beginning of 1973 to 15,140 in December 1975 and
a projected increase to 16,900 by March 1977 (or 20,000
if civilian police employees are added): reorganisation
of the Force, doubling the strength of CID, the intro-
duction of beat radios, the creation of a Police
Cadet School of 600 to improve the calibre of
entrants, the setting up of Police Neighbourhood Units,
and wide measures of reform and innovation to improve
confidence between public and the Police. The latter
include an exceptionally successful Junior Police Call
scheme now numbering 150,000 young people. The
strength of the Auxiliary Force was increased from
3,300 to 5,000 and over 1,000 of these turn out for a four
hour shift each day both to augment the regular Force and
increasingly to form a link between it and the residents
of each neighbourhood.
21.
On the civilian side residents of blocks or
streets are being gradually organised into Mutual
Aid Committees to help each other and help the Police
combat crime. 1800 of these have already been formed
and the number will be increased to 2,230 in the course of
1976/77, when they will cover about 37% of the population.
They are the prime responsibility of the Department of
Page 81gie Affairs and testafois being steadily strengthened
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to give the necessary support and guidance. Though