ee CAPITAL LETTER: “J
Our 40,000 Police Forees
‘By RUTH. MONTGOMERY
‘ASHINGTON: A team of distin-
guished English criminologists,
after completing an on-the-spot survey
in the U.S., reports that the “least ad-
mirable” aspect of American criminal
justice is our “multiplicity of small
police forces” without
common standards of
training or behavior.
Sir Charles Cun-
ningham, Home Office
secretary who heads
Britain’s law. enforce-
ment division, found
the American lack of
centralized: . training
“most puzzling.”
So . does Judge
George Edwards, for-
mer Detroit Police
Commissioner appointed by President
Kennedy to the Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals, who accompanied an Amer-
ican survey team of law enforcement
officers to England two years ago.
Although English common law is
the foundation of American justice,
the resemblance stops there. In Great
Britain every new police recruit is given
identical training at a school financed
by the Home Office. The most prom-
ising regulars are also given advanced
tzaining in criminology. i?
Judge Edwards is now attracting
considerable congressional interest
‘with his proposal that the Federal
government finance a national police
jiraining college, where local rookies:
nd. likely prospects for advancement
ould be schooled in modern methods
iof police detection,
In a recent speech here Judge Ed-
MONTGOMERY
wards convinced his audience that such
_ uniform. training would in no way im-
pinge on the local autonomy of police
departments, or create a ° national
police force,
Rather, it would establish common
practices and encourage mutual ex-
change of ideas which could interlink
America’s 40,000 separate autonomous
state and local police departments.
In England this has long been
proven, Although British police officers
are centrally trained, they return to
their home districts to serve under
local police chiefs.
The smaller cities and towns of
America obviously cannot afford ade-
quate facilities for training local police-
men. Once a year the FBI brings. a
couple of huridred police officers to
Washington for specialized training in
crime detection, but this is a drop-in-~
the bucket since the U.S. has 300,000
local policemen.
Once a year the International As-
sociation of Chiefs of Police holds 4
convention, but informed sources say
this huge assemblage is more given to
camaraderie than to police training. +
We have three national academies
for training Army, Navy and Air Force
volunteers as officers. These men make
a, career of the military, and become
. highly respected professionals.
If policemen were also college-~
trained in the tools of their trade, a
higher caliber of personnel would be.
attracted to a line of work which is at
least as vital to the security of Amer-
icans as our NATO forces in Europe
and troops in Viet Nam.
Judge Edwards’ proposal seems
worthy of congressional consideration.
Headline
‘Hearst Headline Berrice
Rey oS] KK
POM (A
STATE OF NEW YORK
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT — OFFICE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
MUNICIPAL POLICE TRAINING COUNCIL
155 WASHINGTON AVENUE
ALBANY 10, N.Y.
i t
Date: , 22/os—
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