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surprise that he should actu; ally be there. Talkative, gregarious and insensitive, he attacLIhed himself as if by magnetic force to any group larger 0r m�re important than the one he was actually in. Law and ora'7der was his chief interest, a concern popular with his pr4r�s' perous middle-class constituents cowering behind tleir security locks and decorative window bars. Adapting his subject to his captive audience, he plunged at once iint� parliamentary small talk about the newly app0inSted committee, bobbing up and down between Ber0wne and Dalgliesh like a small craft on bumpy water.
    'This committee, "Policing a Free Society: The N,:iext Decade", isn't that what it's called? Or is it "Policing in a Free Society: The Next Decade"? Didn't you spend * the first session deciding whe, ther to include that little I.re' position? So typical. You re looking at policy as well t as technical resources aren't you? Isn't that a tall order? It's made the committee larger than is usually thought effect ive hasn't it? Wasn't the original idea to look again at the application of science and technology to policing? Ihe
    committee seems to have enlarged its terms of referenc e.' Dalgliesh said:
    'The difficulty is that technical resources and policy aren't easily separated, not when you get to practical policing.'
    'Oh I know, I know. I quite appreciate that, my d, ear Commander. This proposal to monitor vehicle m0vements on the motorways, for example. You can do it, 0fcom'se. The question is, should you do it? Similarly with surv,'eillance. Can you imagine advanced scientific mcthods divorced from the policy and ethics of their actual use? That's the question, my dear Commander. You know it,
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    we all know it. And, come to that, can we any longer rely on the received doctrine that it's for the Ghief Gonstable
    to decide on the allocation of resources?'
    Berowne said:
    'You aren't, of course, about to utter heresy - that we ought to have a national force?' He spoke without appar-ent interest, his eyes fixed ahead. It was as if he were thinking: Since we're lumbered with this bore, let's throw him a predictable subject and hear his predictable views.
    'No. But it might be better to have one by will and intention than by default. De jure, Minister, not de facto. Well, you'll have plenty to keep you busy, Gom-mander, and given the membership of the working party it won't be dull.' He spoke wistfully. Dalgliesh suspected that he had hoped to be a member. He heard him add: 'I suppose that's the attraction of the job for the sort of man you are.'
    What sort of man, thought Dalgliesh. The poet who no longer writes poetry. The lover who substitutes technique for commitment. The policeman disillusioned with polic-ing. He doubted whether Mapleton intended his words to be offensive. The man was as insensitive to language as he
    was to people.
    He said:
    Tve never been quite sure what the attraction is except
    that the job isn't boring and it gives me a private life.' Berowne spoke with sudden bitterness:
    'It's a job with less hypocrisy than most. A politician is required to listen to humbug, talk humbug, condone humbug. The most we can hope for is that we don't actually believe it.' The voice rather than the words discon-certed Mapleton. Then he decided to treat it as a joke and giggled. He turned to Dalgiiesh.
    'So what now for you personally, Commander? Apart from the working party, of course?'
    'A week of lectures to the Senior Command Course at Bramshill. Then back here to set up the new squad.'
    'Well, that should keep you busy. What happens if I murder the member for Chesterfield West when the
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    working party is actually sitting?' He giggled again at lx own audacity.
    'I hope you'll resist the temptation, sir.'
    'Yes, I must try. The committee is too important I have the senior police detective interest represented on part-time basis. And by the way, talking of murder, there a very odd paragraph about you, Bcrowne, in today