Dunstall, G. The History of Policing in New Zealand Volume Four. A Policeman's Paradise? Policing a Stable Society 1918�1945. Dunmore Press, 1999
ISBN 0-86469-356-7
RRP $49.95

A Policeman's Paradise? takes the story of policing in New Zealand through to 1945 and the end of the Second World War. On the surface it was a time of little change in police work. However, all was not as calm as may have at first appeared.

This book covers the aftermath of the First World War and the influenza epidemic. There were serious manpower problems at the beginning of the 1920s, which also saw industrial disputes and the appointment of the flamboyant W.B. McIlveney as Commissioner. His sudden departure in 1930 was followed by the Depression and a period of civil unrest.

After the election of the first Labour government in 1935, a service organisation was authorised to represent Police members, and a 48-hour working week was soon introduced. Upon the outbreak of war in 1939, many additional tasks were given to the Police, who began recruiting women in 1941. In the same year, Stanley Graham shot and killed four policemen at Koiterangi on the West Coast. After the embarrassment of the Folkes affair in 1942, the Police took over the task of providing intelligence for the internal war effort.

This volume is illustrated by a wide range of interesting photographs. The author, Graeme Dunstall of the University of Canterbury, is now working with Wellington historian Susan Butterworth to produce the fifth volume in this series.