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Harold Taylor joined the police force in the 1940's at the age of 22. Having started off at Horsham, he was shortly posted to Worthing and shares some of his memories.
On this beat I had a certain amount of good fortune, one of which was that one night I found an unlit car in the road, and when I looked around it, because of discarded spent matches I decided that someone had tried to steal it. I therefore disturbed the people in the early hours of the morning to see if they had left the car where it was.
Having established that they had not, I cycled along the road to try and find anyone who may have done so. In the station yard at Goring I found two mataloes from Ford Air Arm base, sleeping in the cab of a lorry. These I questioned and they denied involvement, but I was not happy.
Having taken their details I went to make a search in records by going to the nearest phone booth. The Station Sergeant thought that there was a good chance that we had the culprits, and sent out a man with the van to take them in for interrogation.
When we got back to the lorry both lads had fled, and it was some miles before we caught up with them and took them to the station. After a lot of questioning they eventually admitted the offence.
I being on nights was excused following up all the details, that job was given to a fairly new recruit from a well-known family locally, who was at that time doing a spell as Aid to CID. He was given credit for the case, even though he had only put the papers together.
After I had left the force this chap progressed astonishingly and at one time after he was made Superintendent, was also attached to the Home Office as adviser. He also took credit for another case of mine later.
I think that I should state here that we had several measures in force within the service, which I feel helped to keep crime down, which do not seem to be in force now. One of course would be impractical.
This was that after midnight we would stop all cars passing through our area and check the occupants. In my days at Horsham, this might only be two cars a night and in some cases none. This could have its funny side, as well as the control of law and order, for which I will give a few examples.
One night I was in North Parade, which is part of the A24 to London. I had heard this car approaching for sometime, so when it arrived on the scene I was ready and able to stop it.
I was a little confused at the antics of the people, more especially one lying alongside the engine and jammed in between it and the offside mudguard.
It transpired that the carburettor had packed up and they were driving the engine by carefully pouring petrol from a can straight into it. When I checked the driver's credentials I found that his licence had expired.
On discussing this with them I found that the younger son who was at that time doing the rotten job of pouring the petrol, exposed to the elements as well, for it was drizzling, had a current licence. I persuaded father to change places and sent them on their way.
Another concerned a constable at Bognor. He stopped a car and when asking the driver his name, got the reply Tommy Trinder, to which the constable replied, 'Yes, and I'm Shirley Temple.'
Tommy Trinder, who did live in the Bognor area took exception to this flippant retort and reported him to the Chief Constable.
Occasionally, however, these vehicle checks could have their uses. Another constable in Horsham stopped two drivers in one week and found people who were disqualified for driving for life.
The other check we used was to check people who we did not feel were the right people in the right place. I would not go as far as to say people we did not like the look of, but were people of whom we thought could be about to commit crime or perhaps absconders from places of safety.
Although the new National Health Act had closed workhouses, there were still some institutions for Knights of the Road to stay. These were at Guildford, Brighton, Epsom and Portsmouth. This sort of put us at the crossroads to such places, as vagrants would pass through.
In the circumstances we would stop and check anyone we wished. I suppose in this day and age this would be considered as restraining one's civil liberties and frowned upon.
I would say that about 50% of all people checked would turn out to have criminal records and it was useful to have this information of who was passing through our area. Especially as it might turn out later that a crime had been committed which would fit the bill to these individuals.
One of these incidents occurred when I was doing the Goring beat. It was one hot Saturday morning and I was patrolling along the beach path from Goring towards Worthing when I spotted the two young fellows, I suppose about twenty years old.
The only odd thing about them was that they obviously were not out to sun themselves on the beach. The other thing was, that one was wearing a heavy overcoat and totally out of keeping with such brilliant weather.
I stopped them and carried on a conversation, but something just did not sound right. I asked them to turn out their pockets, which did not reveal much. One had a wood chisel, an orange and an ordinary, cheap pocket watch mounted on a cheap stand.
The other had a light pair of gloves, a pawn ticket and hip flask, such as a traveller might use. I persuaded them to accompany me to the nearest telephone, where I would pass through their particulars to information room for a check.
In the meantime the lads expressed a wish to purchase ice creams from the nearby cafe. I took them there and spoke to the proprietor, who was a Sergeant in the Special Constabulary. I asked him to keep an eye on them as I was having a search made.
A few minutes later a call came back to me, to the effect that these two fitted the description of a couple of lads who may have broken into a house at Ditchling the previous evening and were last seen that morning in Brighton. They had told me that they had won the clock at Ditchling Fair.
I went back to the cafe, which had been within sight from where I was telephoning, but they were not there. It seems they had asked the proprietor for the toilet and he had directed them to the public convenience, by showing them out of the back door.
Now the hue and cry was on. The afternoon shift had been parading when I rang in my information about the disappearance of the two suspects. It was such hot stuff that the CID were on to it straight away and urging the section to arrest these chaps on sight.
All public services were alerted and several extra people were called in to search the area. At about 6.00 p.m. a bus crew reported two similar people laying on the grass verge between Findon and Washington. A van with some constables and an Inspector had managed to arrest them.
It was later found that one of them was quite a hardened criminal. Oddly enough during the afternoon within a quarter of a mile from where I had left them, a £1,000 necklace was stolen from a house, but never recovered. Did they steal it or was it just coincidence?
Here was a chance, that had I been equipped with the right information at the time I could have made a name for myself instead of rebukes. Of course with modern communication aids, the chances that I could have done more would be better assured. Strange how circumstances arise.
Also on the same beat at about 2.00 a.m. one morning I stopped a quite innocent looking individual on the road in Goring and obtained his particulars.
When I got the information back, it transpired that this fellow was a frequent visitor to Ireland and was known to carry a gun, as well as having other convictions. He also held an Irish passport, which I had examined.
It was presumed that he made his way to Littlehampton along the beach after I spoke to him, as he was not seen again. I had seen him get off a fish lorry making its delivery from the London market, in the Goring vicinity.
Harold Taylor, West Sussex, 2001
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