Note 573 — Chapter IX · ABOLITION AND ORDER

Whether the police even now make full use of their power to clear the streets is a matter on which opinions differ. Certain witnesses before the Royal Commission indulged in criticism (Report, p. 81). The Commission ultimately came to a conclusion on the whole favorable to the police. In my own opinion, it is impossible to reach a single and simple verdict. London is better or worse according to the requirement of more or less localized public opinion, the general tendency being towards improvement.