Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on October 17, 2003 at 10:34:18 from 195.93.32.8 user ACB.
The thought has just struck me that, for a writer writing about, and for, the children of the middle classes in the 1930's, AR has a mildly unusual view of policemen.
They are not assumed to be on the side of our heroes; indeed, generally speaking, they are not. Sammy in SA is distinctly frightening and hostile to the Swallows, until Nancy sets him right.
PC Tedder in BS is a truly terrifying figure; injustice personified.
Sammy in PM is also frightening.
In all three cases the Policeman is acting on incorrect information and persecuting the innocent as the tool of misguided (Uncle Jim and the GA) or downright sinister (George Owdon and Ralph Strakey) people.
I suggest that this was not the usual view of the Police held by the middle classes of the day, and it may follow from AR's experiences at the hands of Scotland Yard in the early 20's?