n the warpath, or
when, say, a gambling raid has taken place. These, like the other cells,
have what their most frequent occupants call "Judas holes"--a small
trapdoor which can be let down from outside to see that all is well
within.

The matron's room also opens into the corridor--a pleasant little
chamber where often women prisoners who cannot be allowed bail, but whom
it is felt should not be placed in a cell, are allowed to sit.

I have said that all the prisoners are searched. This is done thoroughly
with a twofold object--to ensure that no prisoner has means of doing
himself bodily harm, and to discover whether he carries on him anything
bearing on the charge, as, for instance, in a case of picking pockets.
Everything discovered has to be entered with particularity; but although
such things as matches or a knife might be taken from a man, he would
usually be left with his own personal property, watch, keys,
pocket-book, money, and similar things.

Every person having business at a police station is treated with
courtesy, whether prisoner or prosecutor. That is one of the rigid rules
of the service which is rarely neglected. Even the man on duty at the
door is not allowed to ask a caller his business without permission.
That is for a senior officer.

I was much struck by the fair and impartial manner in which the
inspector elicited the facts of a case before accepting a charge. Always
polite, with no leaning to one side or the other, he endeavoured by
careful questioning to elicit whether an arrest had been made on
reasonable grounds. There was no bullying, no taking it for granted,
except in an obvious case of drunkenness, that a charge was proved.

I have, perhaps, not made clear the distinction between reserve men at a
station and reserve men in a division. The latter do ordinary duties,
and are the first called upon in the event of emergencies anywhere in
London. They receive a small sum in addition to their ordinary pay. The
former are men who, instead of doing eight hours' duty in the street, do
it at the station itself, and are available for any sudden contingency
that may present itself within the subdivision.

The personnel of the London police is, as I have indicated, selected and
tested under the most rigorous conditions. No less relentless in the
search for efficiency are the promotion conditions. The Commissioner is
an absolute autocrat so far as promotion is concerned, though, in
practice, he