Chief officers of police like to boast. They are, generally, proud of their force and
can be forgiven for the pleasure they derive from the actions of those they
command. They are at their most boastful
when in the company of their peers.
George Stephens, the long serving Chief of the Great Western Railway
Police, took the opportunity of a meeting of the Police Chiefs Conference of
the Railway Executive (the wartime body that brought together the mainline
railways and the London Passenger Transport Board during the Second World War)
to tell of the good work of one of his officers. An unnamed special constable had
challenged a group of men leaving the dock at Penarth in South Wales. Three of the suspects stopped but the fourth
made off. The special constable drew his
issue revolver and shot the fleeing man, wounding him in the thigh. Alas there are no details of what happened to
the suspects including the one brought down by the officer. The issue of weapons to officers covering ‘protected
places’ during the last war is well documented but there are only a few reports
of the weapons being used for the purposes that gave rise to their issue. The Committee were congratulatory. Readers with knowledge of modern armed policing
will wonder at the absence of PIP, PIM and mandatory referral to the IOPC (i).
I have not been able to find any additional information
about this incident. It doesn’t appear
to have been reported in the newspapers and there are few other records to
check. General Orders for the GWRP are patchy for 1942 but do frequently
feature good work. I would
be grateful for information from anybody who has come across this incident in
their research.
The Minutes of the Police Conference and its associated
groups are a very useful source and contain other fleeting references to the
arming of officers, mainly in the context of encouraging the constituent forces
to regularly drill their officers in the use of the revolvers they carried.
The subject of firearms was also raised at another meeting
of the Conference in the context of the Royal Train. An officer on an overnight ‘stabling’ (ii)
was approached by the King who asked if he was armed. He wasn’t and it appears that the practice of
using armed officers during ‘special movements’ varied between the railway
forces. Within a few months most railway forces adopted the use of armed officers
at overnight venues. Any further
inquiries from the monarch were to be reported without delay!
Philip Trendall
https://transportpolicinghistory.blogspot.com/
(i)
Post Incident Procedures, Death or Serious
Injury, Post Incident Managers, Independent Office for Police Conduct (England
and Wales). Policing has always required
a lexicon!
(ii)
It was George V who started the practice of travelling
around the country overnight by Royal Trains (there were several) during the
Great War. By stabling the train
overnight the King and Queen could sleep and there was no need to find fitting accommodation
(and a suitable host) in the area. This practice
was continued by George VI and Queen Elizabeth and by Queen Elizabeth and the
Duke of Edinburgh.
SOURCES (With thanks to BTPHG)
Minutes of Chief of Police Conferences 1942 BTPHG Archives BTPHG Q05
#Policehistory #BTP #BTPHG #Railwaypolice
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