CONFIDENTIAL
6.
and the police, by a feeling of helplessness on the part of the public, by chronic under-manning of the police force and an evident sense of frustration and even bewilderment amongst its upper echelon. As a substantial part of the Government's time and political credit in 1973 was committed to an attempt to reverse this situation, I record it at some length.
18.
We planned to break out of this situation by a series of cumulative moves. Firstly, we doubled the size of the Auxiliary Force as the quickest method of reinforcing the regulars and creating a bridge between police and public. This went well. Simultaneously a thorough-going reform of police procedures in dealing with the public was instituted, relevant laws and punishments were slightly stiffened, and the people themselves were directly involved by insistent propaganda and by the formation of a network of committees to educate the public in ways of protecting themselves and helping the police. At this point the first thing went wrong, in that the attention of the press and public were distracted by the reprieve, on the advice of H.M. G., of Tsoi, condemned to death for the murder of an Auxiliary policeman defending his family against armed burglary.
19.
When the numbers of the Auxiliaries had reached the necessary level, an action phase commenced in which the police made a massive effort to smother crime by putting every available man on the beat, and the public was exhorted to help them in various specified ways. The action phase had an instantaneous effect in sending criminals to ground, raising the prestige of the Police and reviving public confidence in the ability and determination of the police and Government to fight crime. On the crest of this comparative success we proceeded to the next stage, which was a massive recruitment campaign for the regular police. However, just before the action phase began the second thing had gone wrong, in that our own failure had allowed Superintendent Godber, under investigation for corruption, to
CONFIDENTIA'
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