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55 
the next day he is a policeman, with uniform and a note-book, and 
may be taking part in the investigation of a serious crime. Some 
of such men have more or less aptitude for the business ; some are 
hopelessly stupid, and make terrible blunders. I admit at once 
that in this respect but little more can be expected; by and by, 
when the new education scheme has had time to bear fruit, we 
may have a better intellectual unit to start with. In the mean- 
while, the policeman needs the direction and control of a far 
superior sort of officer than he has under the present system. The 
Scotch régime is far superior to our own, for in it the private and 
preliminary part of the investigation of a crime is conducted by a 
Procurator Fiscal, who is generally an acute and experienced 
lawyer. In his work he is aided by the police, who are his 
assistants ; he is the promoter of the accusation or prosecution, 
the police are simply the executive agents of justice, and not its 
managers or prosecutors. The police are subordinates, and not 
the principals, in the administration of criminal justice. 
The higher the character of the public functionary, the less 
considerable is the danger of false charges or conspiracy, whilst as 
regards false charges being pressed upon false theories, not only is 
our present system no guarantee against it, but, on the contrary, 
it is one of its main evils that it tends so dangerously to it. For, 
as already seen, the preliminary stage of our criminal procedure is 
practically in the hands of the police, hence the probability is that 
they form a false theory, and sooner or later they come to.rest on 
it; and then, having once acted upon it, they become deeply 
interested in adhering to it, and then one of two things follows: 
either an innocent person is in danger of conviction, or justice is 
baffled, and the guilty party escapes. 
~ One of the main evils of the present system of leaving criminal 
prosecutions in the hands of the police is, that they are stimulated 
to over eager and precipitate conclusions from a desire to promote 
their own advancement ; for promotion in the police force depends 
on the number of convictions obtained. 
The preliminary investigation in all criminal charges should be, 
in my opinion, entrusted to a legally trained and qualified man, 
