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ALL THE world knows about and has
acknowledged with praise and appreciation
the services rendered by the police during
enemy air raids on London and provincial
centres of population. There is, therefore,
little that is wholly new in the account of
this service as recorded in the official story
of the Civil Defence of Britain in 1940-41,
now issued by the Ministry of Information
for the Ministry of Home Security. But tt
is right that the story should at least be
epitomised and given its proper setting as
part of this epic of Britain in the blitz. It
is there recorded that “there was nothing
in civil defence that the policeman did not
do,” and “in the provinces the police force
were the lynch-pins of civil defence. The
services were built round the police. Their
members looked to the police for guidance
and leadership.” Fortunate, indeed, it was
that when the stern test came there was
firmly established in the community life of
that country a civilian force whose depend-
ability was so unfailing and in whose ability
to look after them the people put such com-
plete trust. Many of the outstanding deeds
of heroism performed by policemen of all
ranks, both regular and auxiliary, have been
recognised by the award of medals and other
marks of distinction. At least as many others
remain unsung except in the general com-
mendation of Ministers, Press and public.
Among such tributes that to The Policeman

in Front Line, 1940-1941, will stand as yet
another testimonial, permanent and official,
to a force that in many other critical emer-
gencies and by its general standard of duty,

Be

La See

A London policeman with gas mask correctly
at the alert.

had already earned the gratitude of the
public both at home and abroad. In this
story of the blitz by no means all the praise
goes to the police, who would be among the
first to insist on this. There are other ranks
of “Front Line Troops” who made up the
Army of Civil Defence—the Wardens, the
Firemen, the Rescue Men, the First Aiders,
the Ambulance Drivers, the Telephonists
and the Messengers. Above all were the
People-— the men, women and_ children
against whom the bombing was in the main
indiscriminately directed. “The universal
feeling among all ranks of the police,” says
Sir Philip Game in his report on Police
Work in War, “is that their task has been
immeasurably lightened by the magnificent
reaction of the public and determination
shown by all classes of people. . . . As has
been said of governments, it is probably
equally true of the police, that a community
gets the kind of police force which it
deserves. If so, speaking of the Metropolitan
Police as a whole, I can only express the
hope that we may always be worthy ser-
vants of the people of the Metropolis.”
Every page of Front Line, 1940-41, bears
witness to the essential and abiding truth of
the Commissioner’s acknowledgment. . The
author of this historical document might
well have called it Salute the People of
Britain.

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Page Twenty-four

With Compliments to the
B.C. Police

’

G. F. DAVIDSON

PORT ALBERNI

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