The Argus at KellyGang 4/9/1882

(full text transcription)

THE POLICE COMMISSION

In the course of the examination before the Police Commission, Mr H M Chomley. the chief commissioner of police, said the strength of the force was 1,085, exclusive of officers, viz., 28 detectives, 78 sergeants, 121 senior constables, and 858 constables. He recommended that 70 extra men should be employed, and as this has been done the strength of the force is now about 1150. Mr Chomley further stated that he had proposed that the force should be officered as follows –

Districts
Melbourne	Superintendent in charge of district No 1 Division 1 Inspector, 3 sub inspectors; 1 for each relief No. 2 Division-1 Inspector No 3 Division-1 Inspector
Bourke	Superintendent in charge Inspector at Kilmore
North Eastern	Superintendent, Benalla Inspector, Beechworth; sub Inspector, Rushworth
South Western	Superintendent, Ballarat 1 superintendent Geelong , 1 sub Inspector, Ballarat
North Western	Superintendent and sub inspector at Sandhurst ; Inspector at Maryborough
Western	Superintendent at Hamilton sub inspector, Warrnambool
Wimmera	Superintendent at Stawell sub inspector Horsham
Gipps Land	Superintendent at Sale
Detectives	Inspector
Depot	Sub inspector

Or a total of 25, and one chief commissioner of police and one inspecting superintendent

He was at the same time, however, in favour of the force being managed by a board of three commissioners, viz, a chief commissioner, and two assistant commissioners who would act as inspecting superintendents, and also assist in office work. He would appoint Mr Moors, the chief clerk of the department, as one of the assistant commissioners, as that gentleman had a thorough knowledge of the working of the department. Appointments, promotions, and dismissals, he said, could be better dealt with by such a board than by a single commissioner, as it would be better able to withstand outside or political influence. He had brought the patrol system which was recommended by the commission into operation in the North eastern district, and had found it worked well. The troopers had obtained there by a thorough knowledge of the district, and crime has been largely suppressed.

Witnesses of all ranks testified that there was too much political influence used in connexion with the force, and there was a general consensus of opinion amongst them that the best way of remedying this evil was by placing the management of the force in the hands of a board of three commissioners, who would have more power and would be more independent than a single chief commissioner. Some of them also complained that they had been unjustly treated by their superior officers. Senior constable Moyes, of Lancefield, for instance, stated that by the activity and ability he displayed in the arrest of the murderers of Mr Burke at Smythesdale, he excited the jealousy of his superiors, who then, he said, persecuted him in an extraordinary manner. Amongst a series of hardships they inflicted on him was his arrest on a trumped up charge of stealing a pair of old shoes from a comrade. The shoes had been packed up in his box by another man by mistake, and when they were discovered there he was immediately apprehended and lodged in the Melbourne gaol. The truth of course came out, and he was liberated without a stain on his character, but the treatment he received gave his wife a shock that resulted in her death.

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