History from Police Archives Two Teaching Packagesfrom the Open University

History from Police Archives Two teaching packagesfrom the Open University

The Open University

History from Police Archives

Two teaching packages from the Open Iniversity

Prof. Clive Emsley Dr Terry Waterﬁ eld

History Department Faculty of Arts The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA

The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).

Preface

This CD provides resource material from the Police Archive held at the Open University for two projects designed for Key Stage 3 and sixth-form students. The material is presented in the form of two teaching packages: one to study the role of the police during the Second World War and the other to generate discussions about the responsibilities of citizenship. Both topics have associated work sheets with suggestions of how the material might be used.

The role of the Police during the Second World War This package is designed particularly to provide a resource for Key Stage 3, and speciﬁ cally for the study of the home front during the Second World War. Some of the documents are, however, quite lengthy and might well be best used with older students and in other contexts. The documents are divided into short chapters with a narrative link about the role of the police during the war.

The Police and citizenship These documents have been selected to provide an understanding of the role of the police in English society and, speciﬁ cally, to generate class discussions about both the complexities of this role and about citizenship responsibilities in general. This material should sit comfortably with any GCSE and sixth-form study course. The documents are divided into short chapters with a narrative introduction linking the role of the police and the behaviour and/or responsibilities of society.

Organisation of material This guide has been divided into four parts: the narrative for each of the two subjects; the worksheets, which are organised by topic within each subject; images of the documents themselves, and ﬁ nally transcripts of the handwritten documents. Small images of the documents have been included on the worksheets for reference and to provide a direct link between questions and documents. To facilitate printing for classwork, each topic, worksheet, and document set starts on a new page.

Copyright The contents of this CD are protected by the law of copyright in the United King- dom and international treaties worldwide.

No part of these contents may be reproduced, decompiled, stored in any other retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechani- cal, photocopying, recording or otherwise except in accordance with UK copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and copyright (Computer Programs) Regulations 1992, or any other law pertaining to intellectual property in the appropriate terri- tory without the prior permission of The Open University.

Preface ...... i Contents ...... iii Police in Wartime ...... 1 Introduction ...... 1 Police during the Second World War ...... 3 The Blitz ...... 5 County Chief Constable ...... 7 A Volunteer ...... 9 Modern Echoes ...... 11 The Police and Citizenship ...... 13 Introduction ...... 13 The Police Service ...... 15 Defi nitions ...... 19 People’s Rights and Police-Public Relations ...... 21 Keeping Order on the Roads ...... 23 Equality and Gender in the Police Service ...... 25 Work Sheets ...... 27 Introduction ...... 27 Police in Wartime ...... 29 The Blitz - General discussion ...... 29 The Blitz - Preparations ...... 31 The Blitz - Air Raids ...... 33 The Blitz - After the Raid ...... 35 County Chief Constable - General discussion ...... 37 County Chief Constable - Mr Florey’s farm ...... 39 County Chief Constable - Unity Mitford ...... 41 County Chief Constable - Sir Oswald Mosley ...... 43 County Chief Constable - Re-civilianisation of Europe ...... 45 A Volunteer ...... 47 Modern Echoes ...... 49 The Police and Citizenship ...... 51 Defi nitions and Police in a Democracy ...... 51 People’s Rights and Police-Public Relations ...... 53 Keeping Order on the Roads - General discussion ...... 55 Keeping Order on the Roads - Accidents ...... 57 Keeping Order on the Roads - Traffi c ...... 59 Keeping Order on the Roads - Speed ...... 61 Equality and Gender ...... 63 Documents ...... 65 Police in Wartime ...... 65 The Blitz ...... 65 The Blitz - Preparations ...... 67 The Blitz - Air Raids ...... 71 The Blitz - After the Raid ...... 87 County Chief Constable ...... 91 County Chief Constable - Mr Florey’s farm ...... 107 County Chief Constable - Unity Mitford ...... 111 County Chief Constable - Sir Oswald Mosley ...... 119 County Chief Constable - Re-civilianisation of Europe ...... 129 A Volunteer ...... 133 Modern Echoes ...... 139 The Police and Citizenship ...... 141 The Police Service in England and Wales ...... 141

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives iii People’s Rights and Police-Public Relations ...... 143 Keeping Order on the Roads - Accidents ...... 147 Keeping Order on the Roads - Trafﬁ c ...... 149 Keeping Order on the Roads - Speed ...... 161 Equality and Gender ...... 163 Transcripts ...... 175 The Police in Wartime ...... 175 Fred Fancourt’s experience as an ambulance driver ...... 175 St Johnston’s letter to his parents ...... 177 Acknowledgements ...... 179

iv Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Police in Wartime

Historians construct their narratives from documents and from interrogating docu- Introduction ments. At the Open University we have always focused on developing this skill with our students and we suggest a brief set of guidelines for approaching any document (or other trace of the past - a photograph, a building, etc). This may be of use to you in using this material with your own students:

• First, what kind of document is it? • Second, what is the context of the document? What were the events that surrounded it? And for what reason was it created? • Third, what are the obvious things that you can learn from the document - put simply, what does the author/photographer want the reader/viewer to know as a result of the document? • Fourth, what is the unwitting testimony of the document? In other words, what can you learn from 'reading between the lines'? What were the author's assumptions? What can you learn from the document about things that were going on that are not really part of what the author wants his reader to see - perhaps because he or she takes them for granted and part of his or her world (as opposed to the world of the historian); perhaps because he or she wants to gloss over them? • Fifth, what does the document add to our knowledge about the subject under investigation? Does it support the view that we already have? Or does it nuance or challenge that view? Finally, it might be worth advising students to keep in mind one or two things about the written documents that historians use in looking at the period of the Second World War. The documents that follow were written by people who sometimes may have used language in a rather different way from that which is common today (for example, Eric St Johnston addresses his parents as 'My Dear People'), their handwriting may have been unskilled, their typing-skills (these documents were written before computers) may have been poor and old type face is rarely as clear as modern, laser printing.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 1 2 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 On the eve of the war there were some 60,000 police ofﬁ cers in England and Police during the Second World War Wales divided between 182 separate police forces. The largest force was the Met- ropolitan Police in London with just under 20,000 men; there was a separate force for the City of London (1,100 men). There were 58 county forces and 122 forces patrolling cities and boroughs.

There were fewer than 300 women in the total of 60,000. Policing was seen as a man's job. Women police ofﬁ cers were largely conﬁ ned to dealing with family problems and particularly with women and children.

The war required young men to fi ght it. It also required reservists - men who had recently been soldiers - to return to the army or navy since trained men were es- sential. Many police offi cers were reservists, and many more were young enough to serve in the armed forces. This meant that, at the outset of the war, police numbers were reduced as reservists returned to their units and as young police offi cers volunteered for military service. The government and the police authorities sought to limit the reduction in police offi cers by restricting the numbers who might volunteer (see A Volunteer). The ranks were made up by recruiting reserve policemen, special constables and more women offi cers. In 1944 there were 43,000 regular police offi cers, 17,000 War Reserve Police and Special Constables, and 385 women police.

The police grew older as the war progressed. While young men went into the armed forces, older men stayed on past their retirement date or enlisted as reserve constables or specials. Police duties increased because of the war. In addition to their usual tasks of keeping the peace, pursuing criminals, making sure that the trafﬁ c ﬂ owed freely, they had new duties - enforcing the wartime blackout, assist- ing the rescue services during and after bombing raids, checking on enemy aliens in the country, pursuing army deserters. The new burdens probably contributed to the growing sickness rate among the police. In 1939 181,300 days were lost to the Metropolitan Police because of sickness; in 1945 this had risen to 345,600 days.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 3 4 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Introduction The Blitz The term 'the Blitz' comes from the German word Blitzkrieg (lightning war) which was used to describe the German invasions of European countries in the early stages of the Second World War. In the British context the term is generally used to describe the air raids of 1940, though air raids continued throughout the war and, in the fi nal months of the confl ict, involved the use of the V1 fl ying bombs and V2 rockets.

There was a fear that gas bombs would be dropped in air raids rather than high explosive or incendiary bombs. Gas had, after all, been used on the battleﬁ eld during the First World War. People were expected to carry their gas masks with them when they went out in case of a raid.

Documents 1. A photograph of a Woman Police Offi cer and evacuee children in London. 2. A photograph of a Police Sergeant and Woman Police Sergeant demonstrating civilian gas masks outside Harrow Road Police Station, London. 3. A photograph of a policeman issuing the 'Take Cover' order in London. 4. Fred Fancourt's recollection of driving a police ambulance during an air- raid in Birmingham. 5. A photograph of Fred Fancourt and Birmingham City Police Offi cers with a police ambulance. (Fred Fancourt was born in Lincolnshire and had begun his working life in a garage. In 1929 he joined the Birmingham City Police.) 6. A photograph of a woman being carried from a bombed building on a stretcher in London. 7. A photograph of Sergeant Robson in London. 8. A photograph of Sergeant Fred Greenstreet, in the centre of the picture, directing rescue workers. The men surrounding him with the steel helmets and the fi gure behind with the beret, are civil defence rescue workers. The photograph shows the aftermath of a raid by FW190 fi ghter bombers on 20 January 1943 when bombs fell on Sandhurst Road School at Catford in South East London. Sergeant Greenstreet had two sons at the school; one of the two, aged 8 years, was killed in the raid.) 9. A photograph of a 'Beware of the Butterfl y Bomb' poster. 10. A photograph of a City of London constable patrolling his beat after an air raid. 11. Metropolitan Police Orders, 4 September 1939: Action to be taken by drivers in an air raid. See the notes below. 12. Metropolitan Police Orders, 18 September 1939: Air raid warnings, etc. 13. Metropolitan Police Orders, 30 September 1940: Roll of Honour, etc.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 5 14. The report in The Times, 21st January 1943, of the raid that caused the damage shown in the photograph above with Sergeant Fred Greenstreet. See the notes below. 15. A report in The Times, 22nd January 1943, of the rescue operation.

Notes Metropolitan Police Orders were daily instructions issued by the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to his men. Printed copies were distributed to each police station in London. They cover a range of topics from the arrangements for public meetings or demonstrations, to commendations, promotions and disciplinary matters.

The above documents are a good example of the type of material used by historians for their research. The students could be asked to think about where they might ﬁ nd such material. Model answers should include: local studies centre (usually in the local and/or county town library), county record ofﬁ ces, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, specialist archives, the British Library and other specialist libraries.

6 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Among the Police Archives at the Open University are the papers of Eric St John- County Chief Constable ston who rose through the ranks to become the third Chief Inspector of Her Maj- esty's Constabulary on 1st February 1967. Some may argue that St Johnston was the second Chief Inspector since the ﬁ rst appointment in 1962 was only a caretaker appointment.

Born in Birmingham in 1911, St Johnston studied Law at Cambridge (1929-32). He joined the Metropolitan Police as a civilian administrator but took advantage of the fast track promotion scheme introduced by Lord Trenchard (as Commissioner) to establish an ofﬁ cer corps for the Metropolitan Police. In May 1940 he was the ofﬁ cer in charge of Chelsea Police Station; two months later he became Chief Constable of Oxfordshire.

In 1943, the Civil Affairs Branch of the War Offi ce was inaugurated to prepare for the re-establishment of the government of the civil populations of liberated Eu- rope. The Home Offi ce asked St Johnston to plan for the restoration of the police forces of those countries. Thus during the period March to December 1943, he was working part time at the War Offi ce in addition to his duties as Chief Consta- ble of Oxfordshire.

When General Eisenhower’s staff was fi rst formed in December 1943, St Johnston was again commissioned with the rank of Colonel, the only policeman commissioned at that rank, and placed in charge of the Public Safety Section of the G-5 Division of the Staff. In addition to preparing detailed plans for restarting the police and other services of the six countries to be liberated, the work involved selecting volunteers from the police forces, establishing a special training school and assignment of specifi c duties. The work also involved a detailed study of continental police organisations and methods. He was entrusted with the political negotiations for the initial military agreement between General Eisenhower and General de Gaulle. As Chief of the Public Safety Section of SHAEF, he was one of the fi rst British offi cers to enter Paris after the war with de Gaulle’s forces.

In September 1944, St Johnston was appointed Chief Constable of County Dur- ham and, as soon as the plans for seizure of control of the German Police had been completed, he was released from the Army to take up the appointment on 1st January 1945. At the request of the US Government in 1948 and 1949 he conducted a survey of the work of the Public Safety agencies in the American Zone of Germany.

Documents These are longer, written documents and, hence, may be rather more difﬁ cult for many students than those relating to the Blitz.

1. A photograph of Eric St Johnston in 1947 during discussions in Munich about progress in de-Nazifying and reorganizing the German police. 2. A letter from Eric St Johnston to his parents on his appointment to Oxfordshire. 3. St Johnston's third quarterly report as Chief Constable to the county Standing Joint Committee, 2nd April 1941. See the notes below.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 7 4. The Case of Mr James Florey, prepared by Superintendent D.E. Ponsford, Summer 1940. (It is important to read this bizarre 'case' bearing in mind the immediate military context, speciﬁ cally the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force from France (Dunkirk), and the popular concern about landings by German paratroops.) 5. Papers relating to Unity Mitford: a) 8th June 1941 b) 6th January 1942 c) 16th January 1942 6. Papers relating to Sir Oswald Mosley (see the notes below): a) 26th November 1943 b) 6th December 1943 c) 14th December 1943 d) 18th December 1943 e) 26th December 1943 f) 3rd January 1944 7. Extracts from St Johnston's diary of a visit to the American Zone of Germany in the summer of 1946. From 1943 St Johnston had been involved in planning the restructuring of Germany, and particularly the German Police, in the event of the Allies' victory over the Nazis. On several occasions he visited Germany in the aftermath of the war to look at the progress of these policies.

Notes The Standing Joint Committees were made up of magistrates and county councillors and they had a broad supervision of a Chief Constable and his force. By the time of the Second World War the Stand- ing Joint Committees were losing authority to the Home Ofﬁ ce. In boroughs the Chief Constables re- ported to Watch Committees. The latter were appointed by the local, elected borough council and they were usually made up of elected councillors. The Watch Committees had a greater degree of control over their Chief Constables than the Standing Joint Committees. But these were also losing authority to the Home Ofﬁ ce.

Sir Oswald Mosley was married to Diana Mitford, the sister of Unity Mitford. As the leader of the British Union of Fascists, Sir Oswald was one of nearly 2,000 British citizens detained on the advice of M.I.5 and by Home Ofﬁ ce orders under Defence Regulation 18b.

8 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 In the closing months of 1939 3,000 reservists left the police forces to serve in A Volunteer their former military units. Over the course of the war another 16,500 policemen volunteered for the army, navy or air force; of these 1,275 were killed, or died while on active service.

The details of many of these men are difﬁ cult to come by; sometimes families kept letters and photographs, but these usually stay with the family and eventually get lost or thrown away. What follows provides some evidence about one volunteer for the RAF from the Metropolitan Police.

Ernest George Emsley was born in Battersea, South London, on 30th January 1917. He left school at 14 and became a clerk. He enjoyed sport and played both football and cricket for local teams. On 12th October 1936 he joined the Metro- politan Police. He served in 'P' Division in South London, and played for their football and cricket teams. He married in June 1939. He left the police for the RAF in June 1943 and trained as an air-gunner for Bomber Command. His ﬁ rst operational raid was the night of 22nd-23rd April 1944 when his wife was six months pregnant with their ﬁ rst child.

Documents 1. Restrictions on Volunteering: a) Metropolitan Police Orders 13th September 1939. b) Minutes of the 31st Conference of Chief Constables, 19th January 1940. c) Minutes of the 32nd Conference of Chief Constables, 4th December 1941. 2. A photograph of Metropolitan Police ofﬁ cers c.1941, Ernie Emsley seated extreme right. 3. A group photograph of a bomber crew with Ernie Emsley in the centre. 4. A Certiﬁ cate of Service from the Metropolitan Police. 5. A letter from Sir Philip Game, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. 6. A letter from the King.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 9 10 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Events from the past often reﬂ ect contemporary concerns. The following docu- Modern Echoes ments are offered as examples that can be used to generate class discussion about contemporary issues from past experiences.

Documents 1. Central Conference of Chief Constables 16th September 1942: Agenda Item 6 (and Minute Item 13) on Arming the Police. Remember that until very recently it was extremely rare for police ofﬁ cers anywhere in Britain to carry guns. 2. Central Conference of Chief Constables 16th September 1942: Agenda Item 12 (and Minute Item 19) on identity cards. 3. Identity cards were required from the beginning of the war. The government never claimed that this was to prevent spies and saboteurs. Rather the card was part of a system of national registration so that the government had a better idea of available, productive manpower The government also claimed that it was a way of ensuring that, in the context of the evacuation of children for example, families would never be permanently separated. If people carried identity cards, it was argued, parents and children could easily be traced and brought back into contact with one another. Identity cards were abolished in 1952. 4. Copy of a child's identity card. The format of a child identity card was almost identical to that of an adult.

These documents are designed to provide an understanding of the role of the Introduction police in English society and, speciﬁ cally, to generate class discussions about both the complexities of this role and about citizenship responsibilities in general. They provide examples of real problems and real situations faced by police ofﬁ cers and by their superiors during their working life.

Each short section of this study guide makes speciﬁ c reference to particular documents and provides work sheets and suggestions of how the material might be used, generally with some very open-ended questions for student discussion and debate.

Note the use of the term 'English society': This is deliberate because, while the Police institutions in Scotland and Ireland are similar they are not precisely the same. Scotland, in particular, has its own independent and quite separate legal system. Wales, like Scotland, has its own independent elected assembly but it shares the English legal system and the Police Service in Wales is usually put together with that of England.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 13 14 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 There are 43 police forces of varying size in England and Wales (see map). Each The Police Service is commanded by a chief constable; the chief constables of Metropolitan London and of the square mile of the City of London are both known as 'commissioners'. The chief constables report to both the Home Offi ce and to local police authorities. Since the mid-1990s these police authorities have usually been made up of nine democratically-elected local councillors, three magistrates and fi ve others (including the authority chair) who are appointed by a complex process involving the Home Offi ce. The police forces receive half of their funding from central government and the other half from local taxation, principally the community charge. It was not always thus.

During the medieval and early modern periods policing was largely considered as a task for members of a local community. In every parish there was a constable; the position usually changed annually by some form of rotation. In towns householders had a duty of watch and ward, and men were supposed to patrol their districts, in turn, as night watchmen. Gradually these positions began to be taken over by men working for payment in some form; respectable labourers improved their pay by taking part-time jobs as watchmen patrolling the streets from dusk to the early hours. Some constables were also professional policemen; for a small fee they would act in place of the man on whom the annual lot had fallen, and they would earn other fees by making arrests or bringing petty offenders before the courts for minor transgressions and nuisances. Professional detectives, who also worked for fees and rewards, also began to appear. The most famous of these were the men who worked from an ofﬁ ce in Bow Street in London and who have become popularly known as the Bow Street Runners.

In 1829 Sir Robert Peel, as Home Secretary, established the Metropolitan Police in London. This was a uniformed police institution whose commissioners were directly responsible to the Home Secretary. Effectively this new police institution was no longer accountable to the people of London, or their representatives meeting in local government bodies. When other uniformed police institutions were created elsewhere in the country, however, they were under some form of direction from local authorities. In the counties, this was a committee of magistrates until the local government reforms of 1888 which established Standing Joint Commit- tees (SJCs) made up equally of magistrates and elected county councillors. In the towns, local supervision of the police was through Watch Committees, appointed by and usually made up of elected town councillors. At the beginning of the twentieth century this structure of policing meant that there were some 58 county forces in England and Wales and around another 130 city and town forces. Some of these - in big counties like Lancashire, and big cities like Birmingham, Liver- pool and Manchester - had a thousand or more men; some of the smaller towns had only a dozen or so.

The number of police forces was gradually reduced during the twentieth century. The biggest changes came in the 1960s and, at the same time, the SJCs and Watch Committees were abolished in favour of new police authorities. The system was changed again, as noted above, during the 1990s when the police authorities were reduced from between 30 and 40 members to just 17.

Several of the documents printed below come from the archives of the Association of Chief Police Offi cers (ACPO). This organisation began its life as a professional © The Open University 2008 Police Archives 15 association for the most senior police offi cers in the country. Towards the end of the twentieth century, however, it acquired an executive role, advising the Home Offi ce on policing tasks and with a raft of committees that discuss and propose police policy in conjunction with the government. The following tables give an idea of the committee structure of the ACPO, of its various interests and the variety of roles undertaken by the police.

Main Committees

Name Comments Executive 1972-1975+ Council 1974-1976+ Crime 1974-1976+ Communications 1980-1985 Computer Developments 1980-1985 Technical Services 1980-1985 Technical and Research formed from the above three committees in 1986, to 1996 (TARC) Information Technology renamed from TARC in January 1997 Research formed from the Research and Requirements Group (RARG) in January 1997 Training 1980-1990, then part of Personnel and Training Personal and Training 1990-. Comprised a number of sub-committees, one of which (Diving) trans- ferred to General Purposes in 1995. General Purposes 1980-. Comprised a number of sub-committees, one of which (Quality of Service) became a full committee in 1993. Quality of Service 1993-1996, when it became known as Performance Management. Peformance Management 1996-2001, when it became known as Performance Management Business Area. Terrorism and Allied Matters 1987- Trafﬁ c 1968- Conditions of Service 1991-1996, when its role was taken over by the newly formed staff association, CPOSA.

Many of these committees comprised a number of sub-committees: some of those belonging to the General Purposes Committee are shown below.

16 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Sub-Committees of the General Purpose Committee

Name Comments Discipline and Complaints 1980-2001 Emergency Procedures 1987-2001 Working Party on Goods and Services 1993-1999, when it was renamed Procurement Sub-Committee Procurement 1999-2000 Public Order, Tactics, Equipment and 1978 Training Public Order 1982-2001. This comprised 7 working groups until 1998 when two of them combined. Police Constitution 1987-1991 Uniform Working Group 1986-1996 Air Support 1992-2001. This comprised two working groups, which combined in 1996. Laws Disbanded in 1968 with the reconstitution of ACPO. Reformed in 1976-1982. Marine 1990-1995 Diving 1995 Diving and Marine 1996-2001. Formed from the above two in 1996. Football Hooliganism 1979-1980 National Goods and Services 1996 Racial Equality 1979. Was this renamed to Race Relations? Race Relations 1979-1980. Was this renamed? Race and Community Relations 1980-1996. Was this formerly Race Relations?

Note: the dates refer to available minutes. Both of these tables demonstrate the ﬂ uid nature of the main committees and their various sub-committees and working groups to address new technologies and the changing behaviour of society.

Bibliographical Note: If you wish to follow up any of the points made in the above discussion, you could look at Clive Emsley, The English Police: A Political and Social History (2nd edn. London; Longman, 1996). If you wish to get the students to look at court proceedings, to check if anyone with their name was ever prosecuted for a serious offence, etc., you can access the on-line proceedings of trials at the Old Bailey from 1674 to 1913 at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 17 18 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 An introductory discussion to get the students thinking about police and citizen- De ship would probably be useful. The following deﬁ nitions and questions are of- ﬁ fered as a guide for such a discussion. nitions

The very word 'police' is closely connected with rules and regulations. The following are some of the deﬁ nitions of the word from the Oxford English Dictionary noting how it is used, and how it has been used in the past:

'Police' used as a noun:

• Organisation or a controlling body, within a community. • The regulation and control of a community; the maintenance of law and order, provision of public amenities. • A department of government or state concerned with maintaining public order and safety, and enforcing the law. • The civil force of a state responsible for maintaining public order and enforcing the law, including preventing and detecting crime. 'Police' used as a verb:

• To maintain civil order in (a state or country); to organise or regulate. • To keep in order, administer, regulate or control.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 19 20 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 We all accept that individuals have the right not to be harassed when going about People’s Rights and Police-Public Relations their ordinary lives. But if the police are to protect persons and property, are they, in consequence, bound to harass some individuals? And how far might the understanding of harassment change over time as people's attitudes change about what is, and what is not, proper behaviour?

Documents 1. Association of Chief Police Offi cers (ACPO) Traffi c Committee Minutes of meeting held on 13th January 1971 concerning the production of driving licences by lady drivers. 2. A letter from Eric St Johnston, Chief Constable of Lancashire, to Frank Allaun, MP, dated 19th May 1961, concerning spot checks carried out by police offi cers outside a factory. Note: Frank Allaun was elected to parliament for Salford East in 1955. He was a stalwart of the Labour Party's left-wing.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 21 22 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 There are regular complaints that the police could spend their time better by catch- Keeping Order on the Roads ing criminals rather than pursuing motorists and other road users who park - 'just for a minute' - where they shouldn't, or who break the speed limit - 'just by a few miles an hour'.

But would order and reasonable behaviour on the streets and roads be kept without a police institution?

Documents 1. A photograph of a police offi cer at a road accident. 2. The paper written in 1957 by Captain Athelstan Popkess entitled Our Mounting Traffi ce Problems. See the notes below. 3. A photograph of early plainclothes offi cers preparing to mount a speed trap. 4. A speed camera from the early 1990s.

Notes Captain Athelstan Popkess, a former army intelligence ofﬁ cer, served as chief constable of Nottingham City Police from 1930 to 1960. He was a progressive ofﬁ cer, keen for the police to be aware of changes in society and to employ new methods and new forms of technology.

When this document was presented in 1957, the number of licensed vehicles in Great Britain included (in thousands) 3,707 private cars, 723 'other' light vehicles, 473 goods vehicles and 87 public transport vehicles. In 2005 the number of licensed vehicles in Great Britain included (in thousands) 26,208 private cars, 3,019 'other' light vehicles, 433 goods vehicles and 103 public transport vehicles.

This is a long and detailed document presenting Popkess's paper to the chief constables and a paraphrase of the debate that surrounded it. The document is probably best used with older students who are capable of reading and digesting lengthy arguments.

24 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Legislation in the early 1970s insisted that there was to be no discrimination Equality and Gender in the Police Service between men and women at the workplace. This presented problems for some people in those institutions or workplaces where an understanding of distinct and different gender roles had meant that different tasks were entrusted to men and women.

There were no women police ofﬁ cers in the United Kingdom until the First World War when they were established, in small numbers, principally to supervise women working in munitions factories and to keep young women away from large army camps. They survived into the post-war world facing much hostility from male police who considered that policing was 'men's work' because it could be dangerous.

For the ﬁ rst two thirds of the twentieth century most women ofﬁ cers were directed to focus their attention purely on what were considered to be 'women's matters' - that is duties and jobs that women were expected to deal with in a separate female sphere of life. Essentially this meant that they looked after women and children in trouble or in danger. The equal opportunities legislation required that men and women be entrusted with the same tasks at the workplace. It was no longer possible to describe some aspects of policing as 'men's work' and other aspects as 'women's work.'

Documents 1. Two photographs of women police offi cers c.1919: marching to duty and a Superintendent with her junior offi cers. 2. Discussion at the Chief Constables’ Central Conference, 3rd November 1977, about the role of women police offi cers and the validity of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. 3. Letter from the Equal Opportunities Commission concerning the use of women police offi cers for riot control duties, 6th February 1979. 4. Reply by the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, 27th April 1979. 5. Further letter from the Equal Opportunities Commission regarding the role of women police offi cers, 29th August 1979. 6. Covering letter from the West Midlands Police to ACPO accompanying above correspondence. 7. A photograph of a modern woman police offi cer. 8. A letter from the Royal Commission on Equal Pay to Chief Constables seeking their comments on the question of equal pay for women police offi cers. Note It may be important to get the students to understand here how attitudes have changed since this legislation has bedded down. Police offi cers worrying about women being ‘weaker’ was probably typical of perception in the early 1970s and it would be quite wrong to criticize senior offi cers as old-fashioned blimps for expressing these concerns amongst themselves during this period.

T h e w o r k s h e e t s h a v e b e e n g r o u p e d b y t o p i c within the two subjects. A s m a l l i m a g e o f t h e r e l e v a n t d o c u m e n t i s s h o w n o n t h e w o r k s h e e t f o r re f e r e n c e ; a n e n l a r g e d i m a g e, s u i t a b l e f o r r e a d i n g a n d p r i n t i n g, can be found in the Documents section. Some of the worksheets comprise a number of sub-topics.

The following worksheets are available for each of the two subjects:

The Police in Wartime • T h e B l i t z • C o u n t y C h i e f C o n s t a b l e • A V o l u n t e e r • M o d e r n E c h o e s Police and Citizenship • Deﬁ nitions • People’s Rights and Police-Public relations • Keeping Order on the Roads • Equality and Gender in the Police Service

General Discussions The Blitz - General discussion It should be possible to have a class discussion around the photographs and documents on their own. With the photograph of the Woman Police Ofﬁ cer and evacuee children, for example, the students might be asked to estimate the ages of the children and to consider/empathise with their journey away from London and their parents. Equally, it is possible to construct narratives from clusters of the documents and explore how they help us to understand experiences:

• Preparations • Air Raids • After the Raid

Why were gas masks supplied?

The students might be asked to consider what it would be like wearing such a mask - the eye-pieces were known to mist up, voices became blurred and the masks smelled of rubber.

There is a slight fall of snow in the photograph - they might be asked to consider what it would be like wearing such a mask in hot weather.

There is a lot of reading in the Metropolitan Police Orders for the 4th and 18th September 1939 and with many classes it may be easier to highlight passages and ask the students:

• Why, they suppose, the police were advised to take care when sounding the sirens? • Why, they suppose, drivers of petrol lorries were asked to be careful where they parked during an air-raid? The initials L.P.T.B. refer to the London Passenger Transport Board.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 31 32 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Taking these documents as a cluster, the students can be asked to think about the The Blitz - Air Raids pattern of a raid:

First, the warning:

• either a siren • or a police ofﬁ cer on a bicycle. [Metropolitan Police Orders 18th September 1939]

How were people expected to react, and whether they always did?

The initials L.P.T.B. refer to the London Passenger Transport Board.

[Metropolitan Police Orders 4th September 1939]

The experience of the raid itself: Fred Fancourt was a police ambulance driver. Remember that Fred is writing about a night- time raid, whereas all of the photographs are taken in daytime.

A transcript is available.

Listen to an account of one of his journeys; this can be found in the Resource folder on the CD.

After the raid, working through the bombed buildings loooking for survivors.

The reporting of the raid in newspapers.

These two examples were published in The Times: The ﬁ rst (on the left) appeared the day following the raid; the second, giving more details of the rescue operations, appeared on the 22nd January 1943.

Students might be asked to write:

• Their own version of Fred Fancourt's drive. • Their own account of Fred Greenstreet's story. After reading the two newspaper reports, ask the students:

• To compare the style and content of the two articles. • The ﬁ rst report contains two ofﬁ cial statements - how could these be interpreted? • Can they relate these reports to the photographs above? • How might they record this event if they were writing a history?

34 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Using the documents shown below: The Blitz - After the Raid

There was always the danger that the enemy may have dropped small booby-trap butterﬂ y bombs. These notices warn the public to be on their guard.

[Metropolitan Police Orders 30th September 1940]

The students might be asked to consider what it was like for a policeman patrolling his beat on foot after a raid - buildings were ﬂ attened; people that they knew were dead or injured; there could be unexploded bombs and even booby-trap but- terﬂ y bombs.

They also had to continue with their ordinary tasks of pursuing criminals of different types, from those who stole bicycles to more serious burglars; and they had to make sure that other people behaved in accordance with the law and other regulations (e.g. street collections - additionally it might be worth asking the students why lifeboatmen were necessary off the coasts in wartime).

As noted earlier, this collection of documents requires more reading and, perhaps, rather more sophisticated analysis than the material on the Blitz. Some of the material could, however, be set alongside the Blitz material, most obviously a comparison between the Blitz material and St Johnston's German diary. Simi- larly, the largely mundane content of St Johnston's ﬁ rst report to the Standing Joint Committee.

Using all of the St Johnston documents, write an account of Eric St Johnston’s war.

These images show the ﬁ rst two pages of St Johnston’s letter to his parents on appointment as Chief Constable of Oxfordshire.

A transcript of this letter is available.

Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/8/5

As Chief Constable, St Johnston had to sub- mit a quarterly report to the county Standing Joint Committee. These are the ﬁ rst two pages of his report for the meeting of 2nd April 1941.

Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/1/3

Using Superintendent Ponsford’s report, ask the students to retell the Florey case noting particularly:

• What they think the old lady really saw in the sky? • Why they think the Canadian troops acted as they did? • Why they think the police acted as they did? • Who they think the German workers on Mr Florey’s farm may have been? (Probably Jewish refugees.) • Note: The ﬁ rst of four pages is shown alongside. Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/8/15

Using the letters about Unity Mitford:

St Johnston met Lord Redesdale to discuss the state of health of his daughter Unity Mitford following her accident in Germany (left).

Stories are circulating about Unity Mitford’s behaviour: St Johnston is asked to comment (right). Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/3/21

Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/3/12

St Johnston’s reply to the Secretary of State regarding Mitford’s activities (left) and a copy of the constable’s report (right).

Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/3/22

Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/3/24

• Why were there concerns about Unity Mitford? • Why wasn’t she interned?

Letter of 26th November (left) regarding the accommodation of Sir Oswald and Lady Mosley at Rignell House.

It is necessary for the Mosleys to ﬁ nd alter- nate accommodation (right).

Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/4/1

Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/4/2

St Johnston reports that the Mosleys have been moved to The Shaven Crown Hotel, Shipton-under-Wychwood and conﬁ rms the condition of their residency (left).

DC Blowﬁ eld reports on the Communist meeting held on 17th December 1943 regarding the presence of the Mosleys in Oxford- shire (right). Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/4/4

Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/4/3

Letter dated 26th December 1943 regarding the activities of the Mosleys (left).

Constable Coles reports on an incident outside the Shaven Crown Hotel on 1st January 1944 involving the Westminster Dragoons (right).

Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/4/6 Ref: ERICSJ/1/1/4/9

• Why were Sir Oswald Mosley and his wife detained? • What do they think the press photographers and journalists were doing in the affair? • Do they think that the Communists were right in their campaign? • Why do they think the police attended Communist meetings - just to hear what was being said about Mosley? continued over © The Open University 2008 Police Archives 43 • Why did the Westminster Dragoons behave in the way that they did? (Thunderﬂ ashes were used in mock battles to simulate hand-grenades.)

44 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 County Chief Constable - Re-civilianisation of Europe

In addition to his Chief Constable’s activities, St Johnston also worked for the War Ofﬁ ce during the latter stages of the war on the re-organisation of the German Police. This image shows him in a meeting in Munich in 1947.

Ref: ERICSJ/1/2/4/33

Short extracts from his 1946 diary are shown below:

Saturday 10th August: At Frankfurt I saw my ﬁ rst bombed town in Germany - and the papers and reports do not exaggerate. ...

Monday 12th August: Then a two hour ride South to Stuttgart, partly by autobahn and partly - owing to destroyed buildings - by very poor secondary roads. A tiring ride for it was hot and sticky and bumpy.

Tuesday 13th August: ... we drove around the town looking at the ruins, and ghastly they are too, for Stuttgart must have been a very lovely town. We also walked through the centre and visited the street black-market - about ﬁ fty evil looking men with satchels, standing under a group of trees. What they were selling I really do not know - cigarettes mostly I expect.

Wednesday 14th August: We left Stuttgart soon after breakfast and after an uneventful three hour drive, we arrived at Ansbach. ... After lunch we ... went on to Nuremberg, arriving about 4 pm. ... There are 1000-1600 people connected with the trials, and most of them are secretarial and seem to be young people between the ages of 22-40.

Thursday 15th August: ... We then went into the Court Room where we were given front seats in the visitors part. The prisoners were all in Court and evidently our uniform excited some interest for Goering looked at us hard, then turned and spoke to Ribbentrop, who also looked at us, and they then had a short conversation when Goering turned round and stared at us again for a minute or so.

Ref: ERICSJ/1/2/4/8. A fuller extract is available.

• Why was it necessary to go to such lengths to re-establish a civilian police force?

Imagine that you are a journalist writing for the South London Press in 1944. Write an obituary for PC Emsley using information from the following documents:

An Act of Parliament allowed Police Ofﬁ cers to join the Fighting Services without having to resign from the Police Service. How- ever the Commissioner is not prepared to give his consent, as yet.

[Metropolitan Police Orders 13th September 1939 ]

At the 31st Conference of Chief Constables, 19th January 1940, the liability of regular of- ﬁ cers for service with the armed forces was discussed (left).

The liability of policemen being called up for military service was discussed at the Confer- Ref: ence of Chief Constable on 4th December ACPO(ESX)/3/2/2/7 Ref: 1941 (right). ACPO(ESX)/3/2/2/76 Photographs of Ernie Emsley with Metro- politan Police ofﬁ cers c.1941 (left) and with his bomber crew (right).

Correspondence from the Metropolitan Po- lice and the King.

Events from the past often reﬂ ect contemporary concerns. Two examples from the Central Conference of Chief Constables held on 16th September 1942 that can be used to generate class discussion are:

Should the police be armed? Remember that until very recently it was extremely rare for police ofﬁ cers anywhere in Britain to carry guns.

Agenda item 6 and subsequent discussion, minute item 13. Should it be compulsory for everyone to be issued with, and to carry, ID cards?

Agenda item 12 and subsequent discussion, minute item 19 (left).

A child’s identity card (right) was almost identical to that of an adult.

Refs: ACPO(ESX)/3/2/4/1 (Agenda) and ACPO(ESX)/3/2/4/2 (Minutes).

An introductory discussion to get the students thinking about police and citizen- ﬁ ship would probably be useful. nitions and Police in a Democracy

Deﬁ nitions of the word Police were discussed earlier. Ask the class for their own deﬁ nitions of 'police' and then compare them with those from the dictionary.

Given the prevalence of media portrayal of the police as, ﬁ rst and foremost, 'crime ﬁ ghters', ask them to list other things that 'maintaining civil order' might involve. In dealing with this you should refer back to the details of the different depart- ments noted at the end of the Police Service section.

Police in a Democracy The following is a series of open-ended questions that lead on to the issues raised in subsequent sections:

1. Do we need a police institution because people cannot be trusted to behave and to be good, responsible citizens? Ask the students to imagine what might happen if there was no police institution. 2. Following on from the description of the changes in policing given in the background notes on the Police Service, you might ask the students to consider whether the police institution only came into being because ordinary citizens no longer wished to perform community tasks such as watchman or constable. Do police ofﬁ cers merely do, therefore, what ordinary citizens no longer have the time and inclination to do? 3. If the students could start from scratch, how would they ensure that other people's property was respected and protected? Particularly that of the very young, the very old, the blind, and the disabled.

Having read the Trafﬁ c Committee minutes of 13th January 1971, ask the students the following questions:

1. Do they ﬁ nd it amusing that, as late as 1971, there were concerns that a male police ofﬁ cer might be thought rude by asking a woman her age? Does this tell us something about changes Ref: ACPO(HQ)/2/3/1/3 in public behaviour, and if so what are those changes? Do they establish a greater equality between citizens?

2. Should the police care about their ‘image’ and their relations with the public in this way, and if so why?

3. Should the requirements of central government and the need for centralised details of driving offences outweigh the rights of individuals?

Using St Johnston’s letter to Frank Allaun, 19th May 1961, ask the students the following questions:

1. What has been the cause of Allaun’s complaint to which St. Johnston is now replying?

2. Do you think that the police were justiﬁ ed in acting as they did?

3. Do you think that Allaun and his constituents were justiﬁ ed in their complaints?

4. Is there a similarity between the complaints voiced here and more recent complaints about the police stopping people from ethnic minorities? Ref: ERICSJ/1/4/1/229 5. What should the police do if they believe that an individual is carrying stolen property or a weapon?

This worksheet has been broken down into three topics:

• Accidents • Traffi c • Speed Not only are they inter-related with each other but with the behaviour of individuals within society. For example, it might be argued that accidents happen when there is heavy traffi c or vehicles are travelling too fast. But what about the impa- tient driver who ignores traffi c signs and overtakes on a blind bend or ‘jumps’ red traffi c lights, for example. The fi rst automatic safety cameras were installed in London to catch motorists crossing red traffi c lights.

Ask the students to look at this photograph of a police offi cer at a road accident and then fi rst, to write a description of what they see, followed by what they think is going through the police offi cer's mind.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 57 58 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 When he wrote his paper 'Our Mounting Trafﬁ c Problems' in 1957, Captain Keeping Order on the Roads - Traf Popkess was keen for the police to be aware of changes in society and to employ new methods and new forms of technology. This is a long and detailed document presenting Popkess's paper to the chief constables and a paraphrase of the debate that surrounded it.

Before the students read the document ask them to think about when trafﬁ c problems began. Ask them to read the document and then to discuss:

1. Whether Popkess was right in the argument presented in this paper, and is there anything that the police, or any other body, might have done to solve the problems of trafﬁ c congestion that have occurred in the last half century.

2. Are the police the best agency to deal with trafﬁ c congestion? If not, who else might do so?

3. The police are often criticised for ‘picking’ on motorists. Is this criticism fair? What can the police do to prevent such criticism?

4. Is it fair to say that many ‘good citizens’ are ‘bad motorists’; and if so, what can be done about it? ﬁ c

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 59 60 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Trafﬁ c problems are not new and speeding has always been seen as a threat on the Keeping Order on the Roads - Speed road.

This photograph shows Police Ofﬁ cers at the beginning of the twentieth century. Two of the ofﬁ cers are in plain clothes preparing to mount a speed trap with stop watches.

• What information would they use to calculate a vehicle’s speed? • In the 1970’s some police cars were ﬁ tted with a simple computer to carry out a similar task: how might this operation be performed using a single observation point? • How does this technique compare with the modern 'average speed' camera?

The ﬁ rst speed cameras were introduced in the early 1990s. This photograph and the one above can be used as a simple and straightforward way into questioning the role of the police: ask the students to discuss:

1. Are the police the best agency to deal with speeding on the roads? If not, who else might do so?

2. The police are often criticised for 'picking' on motorists. Is this criticism fair? What can the police do to prevent such criticism?

3. Is it fair to say that many 'good citizens' are 'bad motorists'; and if so, what can be done about it?

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 61 62 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 When reading these documents, it may be important to get the students to under- Equality and Gender stand how attitudes have changed since this legislation has bedded down. Police ofﬁ cers worrying about women being ‘weaker’ was probably typical of perception in the early 1970s and it would be quite wrong to criticize senior ofﬁ cers as old- fashioned blimps for expressing these concerns amongst themselves during this period.

Women Ofﬁ cers of the Metropolitan Police in 1919. During the early period women of- ﬁ cers were restricted principally to cases involving women, children and family welfare.

Seated (right) is Mrs Stanley, Superintend- ent, with her Assistant Superintendent, Inspector and Sergeant.

The ﬁ rst document, a discussion about women recruits, reveals concerns that the number of male police ofﬁ cers is falling while the number of women recruits is rising.

What appears particularly to worry the senior offi cers involved in the discussion is the need to protect women offi cers from dangerous duties (something that was technically not allowed by the legislation). One result of this was that women offi cers were un- able to claim the overtime that male offi cers earned while attending football matches where there could be violence between rival fans.

The Police Federation (the equivalent of the police trade union that brought the complaints of the rank-and-ﬁ le to senior management) was complaining about this.

[Central Conference of Chief Constables, 3rd November 1977]

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) had received a complaint that women police ofﬁ cers were not being used for riot control duties. In February 1979, the EOC requests clariﬁ cation (left).

Their reply of 27th April indicated that it was not thought appropriate for women police ofﬁ cers to be deployed in violent situations (right).

A copy of the correspondence is sent to ACPO for distribution to all Chief Consta- bles (right).

A modern woman police ofﬁ cer. Following legislation of the early 1970s, women ofﬁ cers were given full equality with their male counterparts in every aspect of the job.

In November 1944 a Royal Commission on Equal Pay was established. The County Chief Constables’ Conference (the predecessor of ACPO) was asked to comment on the question of equal pay for women police ofﬁ cers.

A copy of the letter sent for distribution to all Chief Constables is shown alongside.

It would be a useful exercise to have students write responses, or roll play a debate, on the subject of equal pay for the same work, particularly in the context of mid-twentieth-century Britain when women police were concentrated in the area of female and child welfare and not allowed to serve alongside male ofﬁ cers during problems of public order. Ref: ACPO(ESX)/3/2/2/106 It is suggested that they look above and consider this document in the light of the correspondence and discusssions regarding equal opportunity during the 1970s.

64 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Documents Police in Wartime

Evacuee children in London The Blitz

continued ... Note: the initials L.P.T.B. refer to the London Passenger Transport Board. 68 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Metropolitan Police Orders, 4th September 1939 (contd.)

Metropolitan Police Orders, 18th September 1939

See also the Metropolitan Police Orders dated 18th September 1939 in the previous section.

72 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Fred Fancourt’s recollections driving a police ambulance in Birmingham

continued ...

A transcript of this is available.

74 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 A survivor being carried out on a stretcher

76 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Sgt Robson in London

continued ...

78 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Report in The Times, 21st January 1943 (contd.)

continued ...

80 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Report in The Times, 21st January 1943 (contd.)

continued ...

82 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Report in The Times, 22nd January 1943 (contd.)

continued ...

84 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Report in The Times, 22nd January 1943 (contd.)

88 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Street scene in London after a raid

90 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 St Johnston’s letter to his parents County Chief Constable

continued ...

92 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 St Johnston’s letter to his parents (contd.)

continued ...

94 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 St Johnston’s letter to his parents (contd.)

continued ...

96 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 St Johnston’s letter to his parents (contd.)

continued ...

A transcript is available

continued ...

100 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 St Johnston’s report to the Standing Joint Committee on 2nd April 1941 (contd.)

continued ...

102 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 St Johnston’s report to the Standing Joint Committee on 2nd April 1941 (contd.)

continued ...

104 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 St Johnston’s report to the Standing Joint Committee on 2nd April 1941 (contd.)

110 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 The state of health of Unity Mitford County Chief Constable - Unity Mitford

continued ...

continued ... 122 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 The Mosleys have been moved to The Shaven Crown Hotel (contd.)

128 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 St Johnston at a meeting with the German Police in Munich in 1947 County Chief Constable - Re-civilianisation of Europe

Extracts from the diary of Eric St Johnston during his visit to Germany in 1946 Saturday 10th August: At Frankfurt I saw my fi rst bombed town in Germany - and the papers and reports do not exaggerate. The US HQ, however, is situated in an enormous building which is beautifully situated and was unhit. Pleasant gardens, with outside ice cream bars, drink bars and feeding canteens make work delightful if not impossible. And the place is just as full of pretty US girls and frauleins as it is of US offi c- ers. About three cars in four have one and generally two girls on board - more or less a fi xture like the spare wheel I guess, and they are generally good lookers with bright dresses and scarves.

Sunday 11th August: Weisbaden was a lovely town - and still is in parts though it is very badly knocked about. The streets were full of GIs and frauleins. The VD rate

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 129 is particularly high in this town and every few yards there is a notice, or even ban- ners, right across the street. ‘Victory for Decency’: ‘In town tonight - VD’: ‘Let this be a safe night’: ‘Number of new cases in this town last week was 85’ (or some such number) - and similar shocking commentaries on the age we live in.

Tuesday 13th August: We lunched at Colonel Dawson’s mess and spent the afternoon with a Colonel White - a Washington policeman - being shown round his ofﬁ ces (the Lande PS ofﬁ ces) and accompanied by the Police President, a man called Weber, we visited the Police HQ - all very derelict, and the cells were shocking. The women’s cells contained about ten women lying in various stages of undress in bunks, on dirty blankets. They are mostly VD suspects.

Afterwards we drove around the town looking at the ruins, and ghastly they are too, for Stuttgart must have been a very lovely town. We also walked through the centre and visited the street black-market. - about ﬁ fty evil looking men with satchels, standing under a group of trees. What they were selling I really do not know - cigarettes mostly I expect.

Wednesday 14th August: We left Stuttgart soon after breakfast and after an uneventful three hour drive, we arrived at Ansbach. ... After lunch we ... went on to Nuremberg, arriving about 4 pm.

We stayed there at the Grand Hotel, and after we had deposited out kit we drove round the town. I had not realised that Nuremberg was an old walled town. Most of it is completely destroyed and we saw the remains of many lovely old buildings. ... There are 1000-1600 people connected with the trials, and most of them are secretarial and seem to be young people between the ages of 22-40.

Thursday 15th August: We went to the Court House about 9 am and had to collect our passes from the Security Ofﬁ ce. While waiting there, who should walk in but Ally Forbes with a Mr and Mrs Clifford - both Press reporters. They were on a general Western Europe motor tour from Paris and had called in on their way to Vienna. Then we went into the Court House proper and called on Norman Burkett for a few minutes. We then went into the Court Room where we were given front seats in the visitors part. The prisoners were all in Court and evidently our uniform excited some interest for Goering looked at us hard, then turned and spoke to Ribbentrop, who also looked at us, and they then had a short conversation when Goering turned round and stared at us again for a minute or so. We were afterwards told that throughout the trial he has taken a great interest in the visitors - wanting to know who and what they are.

The Court Room is very impressive as the various published photographs have shown. It was not quite so big as I had imagined it would be, and the visitors are mostly ac- commodated on the ﬂ oor of the Court rather than up in a gallery as I had imagined. Of the prisoners, there is little comment to make that has not already been made in the Press ad nauseum. Goering is clearly very mentally alert and dominates the others. He is a younger looking man than I had expected to see. Hess is obviously abnormal - with deep sunken eyes looking straight ahead all the time: Rosenburg and Von Shirach look the most cultured of them all: Frank looks a housebreaker: Schacht a worried and frightened schoolmaster. Of the rest they look a very ordinary everyday bus-queue crowd. As soon as we sat down, John came over to talk to me and Maxwell Fyffe came to speak to Brook and Baker. They invited us to lunch and then the Judges entered. Laurence is a magniﬁ cent President, and he and Biddle, who sits on his left, seem to agree all points of procedure without consulting the others. Laurence started off by making a number of pronouncements on matters of procedure previously raised by the

130 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 defence, e.g. defendants would not be allowed to make long speeches at the end of the trial: long apologies written by them would not be translated and put in as exhibits, etc.

Then the Court settled down to the evidence of the day, which was the cross examina- tion by Maxwell Fyffe of Jutner, the Chief of Staff of the SA who had given evidence trying to show that the SA was not an illegal military organisation. In the course of the morning, however, when much documentary evidence was put in and ready by Max- well Fyffe, it was clearly proved that it was a military organisation and that it had done much to pervert the course of justice when members of the SA were concerned with murder and beatings of Jews and Anti-Fascists.

... we spent a very interesting hour in the prison, seeing the arrangements for the safe custody of the prisoners. The prison is the round spoke wheel type, and is divided into three sections - War Criminals: Guards: Witnesses. The twenty one prisoners are kept completely isolated and each man has one guard with him all the time. When he is in his cell, which is unlocked, the guard stands or lolls looking in through a wicket gate. When they are exercising (six at a time) one man is responsible for watching each pris- oner. It must be a strain on the guards for they do two hours on and four off for twenty four hours and then twenty four hours off. When out of Court, the prisoners are not allowed to have braces, belt, tie or shoe-laces, and these are all kept with the court suits in special trays. In the prison they wear old clothes and open necks, and slippers, and the six we saw exercising - von Shirach, Schacht, Frank, Frick, Raeder and Fritzsche - looked just like any bunch of Public Institution inmates. They are not allowed to speak to each other and they just prowl up and down like so many panthers - some fast, some slow, some, like Raeder who has a hernia, hobbling.

In their cells most of them were reading, though Hess was, as always, just staring, and Goering was just sleeping. He was lying on his back on his bunk in a shirt and trou- sers. He has a very big chest and literally no tummy. At fi rst I thought he was putting on an act for us, by infl ating his chest, but I learned it was quite natural - now. All the prisoners’ wants - doctor, dentist, cooks, etc are cared for by men who were PCs but who are now discharged but voluntarily kept on in the prison for the period of the trial. They are treated as prisoners for the time being, of course. Elsewhere in the prison we saw some of the generals being kept as possible witnesses, and I saw for the fi rst time the real Teutonic head. How revolting in looks, an absolutely fl at back to the head - just as if it had been hit a hard blow.

Friday 16th August: We had a delightful run from Nuremburg to Munich ... we were taken by car to Dachau some ten miles away. It was a warm afternoon and the roads were bad and dusty. It is very fl at land, and one sees in the distance a row of larg- ish, rather ugly houses, with some pine woods in the background. Behind this belt of trees is the camp proper. It is a very large area, with barracks, admin offi ces, parade grounds, and factories in the foreground, with the prison enclosures behind and on the right fl ank. The place is a hive of activity as there is a battalion of US troops - a large number of Polish guards in blue helmets and blue battle dress. They look a scruffy lot because the Russians insisted that they should not wear badges of rank or be considered in any way as an Army. In the camp proper, there are some 16,000 SS men, of all sorts and sizes, and in some buildings that have been specially built in one part of the camp the US military authorities are conducting a number of atrocity trials. An air of evil- ness pervades the place, and the hot and sticky dust, and the dirtiness of the prisoners - a lot were unloading coal near to the admin offi ces - gave it all a beastly atmosphere.

We were conducted round the camp by the Commandant, and we saw the gallows, the cremation buildings, the gas chambers and the places where the prisoners were tortured © The Open University 2008 Police Archives 131 and shot. No less than 238,000 people disappeared inside that camp. The huts are each occupied by some 200 men; and 300 is considered to be more than the huts can accom- modate. Yet the Germans locked 900 inside each hut each night.

It is impossible to decide what should be done with the SS men there now. It is divine retribution I suppose that they should be incarcerated in Dachau of all places - but for how long? One cannot see us keeping young men there for years and years. They are not doing any constructive work, and I cannot see why they are not used more on clearing rubble. There is enough rubble in Germany to occupy every SS man for the next twenty years.

Saturday 17th August Munich: I grieved over greatly. It has obviously been the most lovely city with glorious architecture and noble streets. Now it is utterly destroyed. Street after street of ruin - and yet enough of the buildings stand to remind one of what they were once like.

Ref: ERICSJ/1/2/4/8

Conference of Chief Constables, 4th December 1941

Ernie Emsley with his bomber crew

138 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Central Conference of Chief Constables, 16th September 1942 Arming the police Modern Echoes

Carrying ID cards

Map of the Police Authorities in the British Isles in 1977 The Police Service in England and Wales

Note: In November 2001 The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) became the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

continued ...

170 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 Letter to the Equal Opportunities Commission sent to ACPO for distribution to all Chief Constables

continued ...

Transcript of Fred Fancourt’s account of the Blitz The impact of the war on the Police Service as I saw it Fred Fancourt’s experience as an ambulance driver On the outbreak of war all leave was suspended. I myself was recalled from my two week annual leave in Somerset after having had only one week. No compensation was made for this or for the loss of subsequent weekly rest days. Although I was not aware of any announcement it appeared obvious that promotions and retirements were also suspended. I recall none having taken place. Factories were turned over to production for the war effort. This very much included those making motor vehicles. No cars could be purchased new for the Police Service. It was because of this that I was employed with another constable in maintaining the vehicles that we had. Good class second hand cars were able to be sold at several times their original cost. Dealers were keen to get into the buying and selling market. The Birmingham force bought several Austin 10 h.p. cars from such a dealer in South Wales at Blackwood. We col- lected them one Sunday. At times we were also able to buy second-hand surplus Army vehicles one of which was a motorcycle and sidecar fi nished in Khaki which gave us good service. I mentioned earlier that I answered a call for a Police Ambulance to bring in some air-raid casualties. This was the exception to the rule because most air raid casualties were dealt with by the Civil Defence. We had stationed with us a small van of the Home Offi ce, big enough for a group of people to stand inside. This was in the charge of a Police Sergeant, trained for the purpose. All offi cers carried service gas masks and inside the van would be released a quantity of tear gas and the people in the van would experience the effect of this with and without the gas mask being worn. This van served all the surrounding Police Forces. Most Police stations had a decon- tamination building for use in the event of poison gas being used. Fortunately none was used.

In the early days of the war as soon as the air raid sirens sounded we had to report to our station where amongst other things we would carry out the duty of 'Fire Watch- ing'. Much damage was done by enemy incendiary bombs which came down in their thousands with an uncanny sound. They were of a similar size to a modern washing up liquid bottle and made of magnesium fi tted with fi ns designed to check their rate of fall. The idea was for them to penetrate the roof and then lodge in the space beneath. They ignited on impact. Water would not extinguish them. We used to use bags of sand. My house, with many others in the Small Heath area was without water, gas and electricity for some time and the nearest water supply was upwards of half a mile away. I remember on the morning following the concentrated blitz on Coventry, taking a quantity of prepacked sandwiches for the benefi t of a contingent of Birmingham policemen taken there during the night to assist the Coventry force.

G F Fancourt

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 175 176 Police Archives © The Open University 2008 St Johnston’s letter to his parents My dear people, St Johnston’s letter to his parents Please excuse pencil, but it's 4.0AM, and I have run out of ink. Am not sleeping well at the moment. I suppose it is excitement - and so I am writing a few letters. Am having a great rush & this seems a good opportunity of letting you know the position.

To start at the beginning. We had a lovely three days last week on the river. We had the greatest difﬁ culty in ﬁ nding a bed as Thames valley is full of evacuees. We eventually found a very pleasant pub beside the river at Henley. They could not keep us on Friday night so we moved to a country club where Walter Thompson lives. There, incidentally, just as we were sitting down to write our birthday letters to you, we suddenly discovered that the post left at a very early hour & I had to scuttle to the post to send you a hurried P.C.

I returned to town on Saturday fully 100% ﬁ t, only to get involved that evening in a rather serious ﬁ ght, during the course of which I was on the ground being kicked by six or seven very tough gentlemen. Luckily I got away with a few bruises & a badly cut mouth. So I looked a pretty sight for Oxford!! I was on the sick list Sunday & Monday.

There were six of us on the short list at Oxford. The C.C. of the Isle of Wight: the C.C of Leamington: Police Regional Ofﬁ cer for N.E. England: a prison governor: John Skilting & myself.

We each had ¼ hour interview with the Standing Joint Committee - a group of very dowdy looking old gentlemen - none of whom seemed to have any sense of humour. I didn’t feel my particular interview was a great success. However after we had all be interviewed we six all sat for half an hour chatting away - me quite certain that it was N.B.G. - & quite reconciled to it - when suddenly they came in & asked me to return to the Committee Room. When they offered me the job I was so elated that words completely failed me & I’m afraid I just gaped!

Everyone has been very nice to me, and they will I think be very helpful. They want me to start as early as possible so I spent most of yesterday at the Yard trying to ﬁ x it up. I am going up to Oxford tonight (Wednesday) & shall start tomorrow.

My address is County Constabulary H.Q, Oxford.

I have a very amusing little force. 6 Superintendents, 3 Inspectors, 20 Sergeants, and 200 P.Cs!! Except for the Supts, it’s just half of what I’ve got now.

It’s a lovely county & we ought to be able to ﬁ nd a nice country cottage. The question is complicated by the fact that the County is full of evacuees & aerodromes. I have to be within 10 miles of Oxford - or if in Berkshire (ie West of Oxford) within 3 miles.

Have had a number of wires & letters, including one from “Essie and Wendel Minder- sohn”. Who is that please? Is it Mr & Mrs Mindlesohn from Augusta Rd or Norfolk Rd. If so, what is their correct address?

Mrs W has sent me a very handsome cheque as a little present. It will do me very well to clear up everything in London.

I am having her car for a few months until I decide what car to have permanently.

© The Open University 2008 Police Archives 177 I am so happy about this job for your sake. You gave up so much to give me a good education, and your ever ready help & friendship has always been a great inspiration, while your steadfast faith during this last few years when I have been so despondent about ever getting a decent job has been a grand tonic. Thank you so much, both of you. I do realise so well how much I owe to you.

It’s good that we are going to be living so much closer.

Give me a week or so to get settled in and we must then meet.

Au revoir,

Eric

P.S. Have you let Mary know?

Photographs of the Blitz in London and of the police ofﬁ cers are the property of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) and are included here with their kind permission. The authors are indebted to the help and assistance of the staff of the Metropolitan Police Service Historical Collection.

The photograph of Fred Fancourt with the ambulance is included by permission of his daughter Mrs Jenny van Slooten. Fred Fancourt’s account of the Birmingham blitz has been taken from an interview with Professor C. Emsley made in 1986 that was deposited in the Police Archives.

Documents relating to The Volunteer module are the personal property of Professor C. Emsley.

The two images of the articles in The Times are reproduced from the Times digital archive with their permission.

All other material has been deposited in The Open University Police Archives, the images of which are the property of The Open University.

This work was made possible by a Your Heritage Grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.