IN REMEMBRANCE
• First Police Reserve – were police pensioners who had been kept on a small
anticipated rise in crime. To prepare for this police forces sought to increase their numbers in several different ways:
• War Reserve Police – men who were under the age of 30 in the police reserve
retainer and were re-engaged and paid a normal salary. (The retirement of officers already in service was also delayed).
• The War Reserve Police, introduced in 1939 - at the height of World War
World War II training Parkway 1943
were called up for temporary war service. These were paid members of the police force and many were later called up to serve with the armed forces.
• Women’s Auxiliary Police Corps • Special constables • Police Auxiliary Messengers – boys between the ages of 14 and 18 were recruited as volunteers to assist the police with communications by delivering messages on foot or on bicycle.
II in 1944 there were 17,000 war reserve constables. The rank was dissolved on 31 December 1948, causing 686 officers to be discharged from service, and the remainder being recruited for service as a regular or special constable.
World War II, a time of crisis, revealed both the best and worst of human nature. While some rose to the occasion with bravery and solidarity, others succumbed to the temptations of crime, exploiting the chaos for personal gain and it was up to the different forces across the nations to combat this and fight their own war against rising crime at home.
Police contingent marching from Lansdown to Stroud Rugby Ground at Lightpill, during War Weapons week to raise funds for a Spitfire aircraft.
Prostitution, too, saw a surge, with criminal networks exploiting the influx of British and American servicemen. The notorious Messina gang, for instance, controlled a group of women known as the “Piccadilly Commandos,” who catered to the soldiers on leave.
The blackout conditions also created opportunities for violent crime. One of the most infamous cases was that of Gordon Cummins, an RAF airman who used the cover of darkness to murder four
women over six days, earning the moniker “Blackout Ripper”. War also introduced new legal restrictions. Essential workers faced criminal charges for absenteeism or strikes, as wartime laws aimed to maintain production. Food rationing led to crimes like the misuse of ration books, with families sometimes illegally claiming extra rations.
Much of this was foreseen and policing anticipated the loss of large numbers of police to the armed services alongside an
Officers undergoing gas training at Headquarters, Holland House
45 | POLICE | OCTOBER | 2024
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