'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎146r] (296/470)

movement among the civil population; high prices; the flooding of Basrah with
bad characters turned out of Baghdad and other places up the line; overcrowding;
the influx of swarms of labourers without fixed abode who have to sleep in the streets
because there is no other place for them,—all these are factors which cannot fail to
send up the crime figures. The Janub continues to be troublesome with
offences of the more violent kind. So far as figures are a guide, it is at least a matter
for partial satisfaction that, with a considerably larger number of cases to investigate,
the police managed to detect, send for trial, and get convicted appreciably more
cases than they did last year. On the other hand, the amount of property stolen
during the year has trebled, while recoveries have only risen about 64 per cent. The
proportion of convictions to cases sent for trial is still phenomenally large, as are
convictions to investigations; but it is necessary to look beyond statistics when
judging police work, and I am of opinion that we have not yet got very much reason
for satisfaction.
A noticeable feature is the absence of action under the preventive sections.
The fact is, so little is at present known of the true history of the criminal element,
and so little help is to be obtained from Mukhtars and public, that the police have
not been in a position to produce evidence of bad livelihood. I have started the
collection of information about the history and antecedents of all bad characters,
and hope to ensure that more is done in the way of controlling known depredators
in the future. Formerly it appears that very little interest was taken in a convict
once he had completed liis sentence. This is very largely due to the low standard
of training of the rank and hie, who show little keenness or ability towards bringing
in useful information.
In the near future a further problem will be set to the police in the return to
their homes of many of the worst characters of Turkish times. It is, however, a
point of some interest that many of the old badmashes who were not deported have
now settled down as law-abiding citizens, and are ever ready to assist the police
with information. * I will now proceed to note briefly on the different classes of
crime.
(2) Class I. : Offences against the State, the.—There was one case of rioting, in
which there is strong suspicion that homicide was committed; the evidence from
post-mortem examination, however, showed death due to natural causes. The
cause of the riot was a dispute as to the possession of a dancing boy. This case was
important also for the reason that one Fath, Mukhtar of the Shatt, who worked
a kind of unofficial balam patrol and was nominally supposed to help the police in
running down crime on the river, was the principal accused. He had long been
suspected of using his position for himself committing crime on the river, and his
conviction and sentencing to a year’s imprisonment were satisfactory. There was
also a somewhat serious riot between watchmen on the B.I. Wharf at Mahaulah and
Richardson and Crudda’s workmen. Also another at ‘Abadan between Persian
coolies A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. and men of a Burmese Porter Corps.
There was one bad escape from custody: a prisoner condemned to death got
out of the Basrah Jail under the eyes of the sentries; one of the latter, a jail warder,
was armed with smooth bore Martini, but did not use it; the other, a police constable,
had only a baton and was engaged in rousing his relief. Both were convicted and
sentenced, the warder to two years, the policeman to four. In another case
Hidayat, the ex-Sub-Inspector, and a companion, escaped from the jail and were
caught at some personal risk by two police constables; the convicts had provided
themselves in jail with disguise, and a weapon in the shape of a large pair of tailor’s
scissors.
Section 240/24 : Coining. —There has been a fairly constant, though from such
information as has reached the police not a large, influx of counterfeit coin. I he
common opinion is that it comes from Persia, and certainly a run of cases seemed
to coincide with the sojourn, in the vicinity of Basrah, of Persian kaulis (gipsies).
Police action has met with indifferent success, but adequate evidence is difficult
to obtain; as a rule the “ utterer ” has been found to be himself a dupe who did
not know' he was passing bad coin. The workmanship is very crude in all cases
that have come under my observation, the coin being moulded, not struck.
(3) Class II. : Serious Offences against the Person.—There is a small rise in
this class of offences, particularly in the most serious offences, viz., murder, culpable
homicide, and attempted murder, which show 13 true cases as against five in 1917.
On the other hand no cases of 1917 were detected, whereas in 1918 two murders,