The police and the people

Lahore, Saturday, August 9, 1924

LORD Lytton has been freely complimented in a section of the Anglo-Indian Press for expressing himself in somewhat strong terms at a Police Parade recently held at Dacca on the subject of the relations between the police and the people. In reality, the views he expressed are nothing but commonplace. “The police,” said His Excellency, “are more important than any other servants of the state; they are the pillars of society, the guardians of the peace, the prefects of the people. A contented police is the best guarantee of the security of the government; a trusted police is the best test of the unity of the people.” Again, “one thing must always be remembered. The police of every country are what the people make them. They cannot possess the qualities which are essential unless the public attribute those qualities to them, support and trust those who possess them and help the government to eradicate those who are deficient in them. If the police in England are perhaps the most efficient in the world, it is because the English people have made them so. It is because the people themselves value discipline and respect authority. If the burly Metropolitan constable in his blue uniform is universally regarded as a friendly protector and as an inexhaustive mine of information, it is because every law-abiding citizen, from the little child who has to be steered through the traffic to the owner of millions, trusts him implicitly with his life and property and accepts his authority without question.”