physically unfitted to carry out. They are assigned to those Police Stations in which their services seem most usefully employed, and form part of the ordinary establishment of the Division, working under the direction of the Superintendent and his officers. Their duties are mainly connected with giving advice to girls and young persons whom they find frequenting the streets, with a view to preventing delinquency. They have also been employed on duties in connection with the detection of indecency or criminal conduct by males, particularly in relation to children and young persons, when the chances of detection by a male officer might probably have been less; and certain of them have been selected to assist in the delicate work of taking statements in respect of these offenses. They have occasionally been employed on certain other duties in connection with cases in which females are concerned, but the Home Secretary considers that sufficient experience is not yet available on which to decide whether this sphere of their general employment can be usefully extended. CHAPTER II THE BRITISH ISLES (Continued) Provincial Women Police-Northern Ireland-Scotland. PROVINCIAL WOMEN POLICE The women police movement in England and Wales outside of the Metropolis while influenced greatly by the work in London was nevertheless an independent effort. Each Chief Constable could take the measures which he deemed advisable. An important factor, and perhaps the most important in the situation, was the National Council of Women working through the Committees on Women Patrols of its 89 branches and the 150 affiliated organizations.1 From the early days of the war, the volunteer women patrols worked under the same conditions as those in London. The movement grew less rapidly in the counties and the smaller boroughs than in the 1"The National Council of Women adequately represents the conservatively minded women of Great Britain. It is not far wide of the mark to say that what the National Council of Women decides today England will decide tomorrow, since the resolutions stand little chance of being carried at the Annual Conferences of this body until they are so generally accepted by moderate women all over the country as to be ripe for legislation. (Time and Tide, October 3, 1924. Vol. 5, No. 40. Price 4d. 88 Fleet St., London, F. C. 4.) Metropolis and larger towns where social conditions were more acute and required immediate action. The first appointments of women police were in Grantham and Hull in 1914 and 1915 respectively. The numbers of women employed in the County and Borough police forces of England and Wales varied as follows from 1917 to 1924.2 There were 3 distinct centers of activity-Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow, in all of which cities, committees of the National Council of Women established training schools for women patrols and women police. Later these became the "Federated Training Schools of Bristol, Scotland and Liverpool" and as such cooperated closely in general propaganda for the appointment of women police in Great Britain. By 1919 the movement had become sufficiently 21. The History of the Official Policewomen-National Council of Women of Great Britain and Ireland-Parliament Mansions, S. W. 1. London, 1924. Price 6d. net. (1923) 2. Report of H. M. Inspectors of Constabulary, H. M. Stationery Office, 28 Abingdon Street, London, S. W. 1. (19-) 1924. Price 9d. net. (1924) 3. A Handy Guide to the Police Forces of the British Empire, March, 1924, the Police Review Publishing Co., 8 Red Lion Square, London, S. C. 1. Price 7d. net. crystallized to have developed three separate categories or types of appointments and appointees." (1) Paid Patrols. (Sometimes called semi-official policewomen) are not appointed by the police authority, though they work with its recognition. Their pay is drawn through the medium of a voluntary committee; they hold no rank under the police, and they have no expectation of a pension. Their duties are mainly street and park patrol, with preventive cases arising therefrom. (2) Policewomen are employed by the police authority, but are not sworn in. They draw their pay through the usual police channels, but often at a very low rate. They usually hold no rank under the police, and their expectations of a pension are vague. Their duties are mainly street and park patrol, with preventive cases arising therefrom, and occasionally court, escort, or investigation duty. (3) Women Constables are employed by the police authority and have police powers. They draw their pay through the usual police channels, and though it often falls below that of the men, it is usually at a rate holding some relation to that of men. They hold rank as constables, sergeants, etc., under the Chief Constables, and have a definite expectation of a pension. Their duties are all or any duties of a constable, especially those relating to women and juveniles. The number of women employed (in the prov 3 Policewomen's Conditions of Service by D. O. G. Peto, The Englishwoman, December, 1919. inces) in 1919 under each of these headings was 20 to 30 Paid Patrols, 100 Policewomen and 20 to 30 Women Constables. BRISTOL In 1914 the National Council of Women organized a group of voluntary women patrols in Bristol (558) and in 1915 opened a school there for their training. The work developed through much the same vicissitudes as in other parts of England. In February, 1916, came the first official recognition (A-p. 45) where as an experiment 5 women were employed in the department of criminal investigation. At the end of a year a Women's Police Department was created on a permanent basis with a woman superintendent in charge. Three years later, when she resigned to take a higher salaried position in social work, the uniformed patrols were placed under the central division superintendent and the plain clothes women under the criminal investigation department. In June, 1924, they were so supervised. At this date there were 3 uniformed patrols, 3 plain clothes women and 2 matrons, working under the same conditions as the men on the force. The allowed strength of the women is 24 but 13 is the highest number ever employed at one time (A-1007). LIVERPOOL In Liverpool the situation has developed someDuring the war the staff what differently. |