|
|
Home
| Databases
| WorldLII
| Search
| Feedback
Australian Federal Police - Platypus Journal/Magazine |
Know your profession
When the Director of the Australian Institute of Police Management, Professor Timothy Rohl, gave the Attestation and Award Conferral Ceremony Address in October last year, which was published in December Platypus No 65, he urged all new officers to develop a set of ‘guiding principles' that they could use to be better police practitioners and passionate advocates for their newly chosen profession.
One of those principles was to ‘Know Your Profession'. He made the point that it is important to be fascinated and knowledgeable about its past, inquisitive and informed about changes that are currently occurring within it, and innovative and creative about developing its role for the future.
He also posed a number of questions, all of which could have found themselves in a game of Trivial Pursuit, about policing and its history. As the questions have generated many enquiries, he now provides the following responses for Platypus.
Most people, including a lot of police officers, are not familiar with the origin of the word ‘police'. It comes from the Greek word ‘politeia' which is somewhat difficult to translate — but in essence it means the linkage between government and the citizens.
The earliest record of the police function — ‘providing safety and security for people and property' — that I can find, comes from a little known text in the Old Testament (1 Sam 25:16). It relates to the story of David's men providing safety for Nabal's shepherds and their sheep at a time when they were under attack from mad King Saul. One of Nabal's shepherds described David's men: “They were a wall to us by night and by day . . . and we were not hurt”.
From all accounts, this story also gives rise to another popular expression — “He's as solid as a rock (or a brick)” — the inference being that a strong and loyal person will protect you like a brick wall would from your foes.
Much later, about the time Christ was born, there is a record that the Emperor Augustus Caesar established a special force in Rome for 'the maintenance of order and the security of the city'.
Nine. They are:
1. To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and by severity of legal punishment.
2. To recognise always that the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.
3. To recognise always that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing cooperation of the public in the task of securing the observance of laws.
4. To recognise always that the extent to which the cooperation of the public can be secured diminishes, proportionately, the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives.
5. To seek and to preserve public favour, not by pandering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to law, in complete independence of police and without regard to the justice or injustices of the substance of individual laws; by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing; by ready offering of sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.
6. To use physical force only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient to obtain public cooperation to an extent necessary to secure observance of law or to restore order; and to use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective.
7. To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen, in the interests of community welfare and existence.
8. To recognise always the need for strict adherence to police executive functions, and to refrain from even seeming to usurp the powers of the judiciary or avenging individuals or the state, and of authoritatively judging guilt and punishing the guilty.
9. To recognise always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.
Many modern western democratic police forces trace their roots back to 1829 when Sir Robert Peel, as the Home Secretary of England, introduced into Parliament a bill which provided for the “organisation of a professional police force” to replace the military which had until then been responsible for maintaining peace and order in London. Smartly attired uniformed police made their first appearance on the streets of London on the morning of 19 September 1829.
So widespread and profound was the recognition of Peel's “policemen” (this was the first time that this term was actually used), that his model and philosophy was adopted in various parts of Europe and the United States over the next 30 years.
Of all the terms to describe police officers, the most difficult to get an accurate fix on would have to be the term ‘cop'. Americans use it almost exclusively to describe their police. In some ways, the word cop when it is used in Australia or the United Kingdom has a pejorative connotation — it is much less respectful than police officer.
I had always understood the term ‘cop' pejoratively because it was supposed to have been a reference to bribing a police officer — “did he cop?” (in old English) means “did he receive a gratuity (or bribe)?” This was why I cautioned against using the term.
Since giving the address, however, I have been inundated by callers, each of whom was keen to share their 'authoritative' understanding of the origin of the word. I will list a few. I am equally sure that there will be many readers who will have different versions of the origin of the word.
One reference refers to an old English word ‘to cap' or ‘to capture' (17th Century — the word evolves over time from ‘cap' to ‘cop'). Using this terminology, a police officer would catch or arrest a felon. A victim might then say “that was a (fair) cop” (meaning a fair capture).
These days, ‘cop' is used for anything to do with the police, for example a ‘cop shop' is a police station; COPS is an acronym for Computerised Operational Policing System; Constable of Police; Commissioner of Police and Community Oriented Policing. I know an Assistant Commissioner of Police in the RCMP who is absolutely convinced that the true origin of the word ‘cop' comes from Constable on Patrol.
A more offensive word to describe police is ‘pig'. Many young police these days wear the term with honour because they regard it as an acronym for Pride, Integrity and Guts.
Actually, when the term ‘pig' was first introduced it had a very different connotation to what it does today. From all accounts, it was first used in the 1870s by London thieves to describe a plain-clothes officer or a ‘nose'. It was used, almost in a complimentary way, to describe a capable detective — someone who had the skill to ‘sniff out' or detect a crime. The term then went underground for a number of generations and was actively revived throughout the British Commonwealth by the 'counter-culture' revolution of the 1960s. By this time, the term was clearly negative and extended to include other people in law enforcement including prison guards.
Ironically, many of the English ‘D's' (detectives) of the ‘60s and ‘70s were readily identifiable by the 'pork pie' hats they wore.
This expression comes from the United States (probably around the turn of the 20th Century), and was the name given to the van used by the police to convey prisoners. It was called a 'paddy wagon' because of the prevalence of Irishmen in the various police forces.
Who really knows? It always seemed to me that police were having a bet both ways. In selecting Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Jude, police officers really do have all bases covered.
Saint Michael the Archangel is one of the greatest of the Saints. Holy Scripture describes Saint Michael as 'one of the chief princes' and leader of the forces of Heaven in their triumph over the powers of Hell. In this role, he is honoured and invoked as a 'patron and protector' of the Church. Saint Michael is also the Patron Saint of grocers, mariners, paratroopers and the sick. He has good connections.
Saint Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of Saint James the Less and a relative of Jesus. Saint Jude is invoked in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that “the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances”, just as their forefathers had done before them. Therefore, he is the Patron Saint of desperate causes and his Feast Day is October 28. He will always stick by you.
Police Remembrance Day,
held each year on September 29
is the Feast Day of St Michael the Archangel.
[pic: www.cloudnet.com/~abartelle/
IconsWWW/TeresaDanovich.html]
In France, in the early part of the 19th Century, Honor de Balzac described policing as the noblest of the professions because, as he said, the police officer plays the roles of the three other noblest professions (as he described them) simultaneously: the soldier, the priest and the artist.
I've not been able to discover why de Balzac regarded the soldier, the priest and the artist as noble professions. I can only assume it is because the soldier protects the community, the priest exercises compassion and forgiveness and the artist employs creativity and imagination to convey messages. If this is true, then it seems to me that the police officer is greatly ennobled by these qualities.
It's actually the Sillitoe Tartan and was introduced by Sir Percy Sillitoe, the Chief Constable of Glasgow in 1932. The tartan was introduced into Australia by Brigadier John McKinna, following a visit to Glasgow in 1960. At the time he was the South Australia Police Commissioner and he saw the tartan as a means of making the police uniform distinct from all other dark coloured uniforms worn by various organisations. The South Australia Police was not only the first police agency in Australia to adopt the tartan, it was the second police agency in the world to do so.
Queensland adopted the tartan in the early 1970s after McKinna visited the Queensland Police and conducted a review of their operations and uniform. These days it is widely used throughout the world.
It is the Feast Day of St Michael the Archangel.
The first police force in Australia was established under Governor Phillip's second commission, to replace the military as the colony's law enforcers after public disquiet with the drunkenness and corruption in the military had reached (as one commentator said) ‘irresistible' levels. Philip's early constables were unpaid but received in lieu a weekly rum ration.
If you have any snippets of police folklore we'd be interested to hear from you. Further items would be compiled and published in a future edition of Platypus. Responses can be forwarded to: The Editor, Platypus Magazine, AFP Headquarters, GPO Box 401, Canberra ACT 2601
AustLII:
Copyright Policy
|
Disclaimers
|
Privacy Policy
|
Feedback
URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUFPPlatypus/2000/5.html