How Detectives Are Trained

HOW DETECTIVES ARE TRAINED.

In the course of an article on the training of detectives at Scotland Yard, the "Daily Telegraph"says: - Every detective begins his career at the lowest rung of the police ladder. When seeking employment in the London force, the young man from the country is promptly directed to Scotland Yard, where the work of winnowing the grain is begun. Physical fitness is an important qualification, and the candidate must be prepared to pass a very stiff medical examination. This may be one of the facts accounting for the large number of provincials who are accepted. After the doctor comes a test of the man's educational attainments. The clumsy criminal is fast becoming extinct, and, acting upon the principle of "diamond cut diamond," Scotland Yard must have men able to deal with skilled "professionals," whose weapons are the chloroform-pad, electric drills, and other resources of science unknown to the Bill Sykes of earlier generation. It is for this reason that the standard of education is being gradually increased. Having been proved sound in mind and body, the candidates are sent to Wellington Barracks, where they are drilled every day for three weeks, or for such longer period as may be deemed necessary. This course finished, the novice is attached to one of the police divisions of the Metropolis, and another stage of training begins. His first duty is to attend the police courts daily, the object being to teach him the details of procedure, the manner of giving evidence, and the best way of conducting a case. The young constable is next entrusted to the care of an experienced officer, who pilots him round the various streets or the division, shows him the chief resorts of crime, and generally furnishes him with a fund of useful "tips." After a few days of this class of work, he is supplied with uniform and truncheon. The days of apprenticeship are ended, and he goes forth to take a place amongst the rank and file of the Metropolitan police.
There are three grades of uniformed constables, and it is the ambition of most men in these to enter the detective force, promotion to which is accompanied by higher salary and improved social position. Even to the third-class policemen the chance of proving his quality soon comes, and, in many cases, advancement to the first class is very rapid. It is from the latter section that our detectives are chiefly recruited, and no man is accepted until he has succeeded in satisfying the divisional chief that he has some natural faculty for the investigation of crime. When Sir Howard Vincent was in authority at Scotland Yard, he tried the experiment of appointing men to the detective service who had not been trained as constables. This step proved a complete failure, and very soon after their nomination most of the new men found it desirable to resign. It may be imagined by people in the habit of reading detective novels of the Sherlock Holmes type that the arrest of criminals may be brought about by methods which have no place at the present time in our system; but the hard, practical experience of Scotland Yard does not favor a departure from the plan now pursued. The theorists have been obliged to yield to men like Melville, Littlejohn, Swanson, Greenham, Hagen, Von Tornow, and Jarvis, all of whom belong to the essentially practical school. These officers held as an axiom that a fairly good "police clue" in the hands of the average detective trained in the London force was worth more than the teaching of all the psychologists in Europe. Intelligent, practical, experienced men are demanded by Scotland Yard, but hypnotists, mesmerists, and mind-readers receive no encouragement. The pay of a first-class detective constable does not average £2 a week, but if success attends him he will be promoted to sergeant, when his salary, starting at £2 2s per week, may advance by yearly stages until he receives as much as £3 1s 6d.
Scotland Yard may be described as the great "clearing house" for the United Kingdom and the colonies as regards crime, and the most interesting feature of Scotland Yard is the Secret Service or Political Department, of which Mr. Melville, most able and conscientious officer, is the chief. While the ordinary Yard officer is dealing with such matters as the arrest of refugee criminals, extradition proceedings, or the unravelling of some murder mystery, his comrade of the Political Department is transacting affairs of still greater State importance. The safeguarding of Royalty and of Cabinet Ministers, the arrest of anarchists and revolutionists, and the investigation of charges of treason fall to the lot of some 40 picked men acting under Mr. Melville's direction. They are in daily communication with the Police Department of every foreign Government, and certain members are frequently despatched on secret missions abroad. This special department was formed in 1883, at the time of the dynamite outrages, and remained for some years under Chief Inspector Littlechild as a temporary establishment. Finally, the Home Office being convinced of enormous importance of the work which had been performed by the new service, resolved that it should be established on a permanent basis. Representatives are stationed at the chief ports not only in the United Kingdom, but on the Continent. Most of the men belonging to this department are of superior education, and have been selected on account of the special aptitude they have displayed in the capture of law-breakers. It enjoys the pleasant reputation of being the only police department where a liberal allowance for expenses is made. When a man accepts duty as a temporary detective, he is only allowed 2s 6d per week in addition to his wages as a constable, but the favored member of the "Special Service" enjoys practically a free hand.

Source: Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11116, 7 January 1899, Page 5

Note: The "Special Service" referred to above is more popularly known as the "Special Irish Branch."