Yet there is no such thing under the laws of the State as a right "to arrest on suspicion." No citizen may be arrested under the statutes unless a crime has actually been committed.

Thus, the police regulations deliberately compel every officer either to violate the law or to be made the subject of charges for dereliction of duty.

A confusing state of things, truly, to a man who wants to do his duty by himself and by his fellow-citizens! The present author once wrote a book dealing with the practical administration of criminal justice, in which the unlawfulness of arrest on mere "suspicion" was discussed at length and given a prominent place.
But when the time came for publication that portion of it was omitted at the earnest solicitation of certain of the authorities on the ground that as such arrests were absolutely necessary for the enforcement of the criminal law a public exposition of their illegality would do infinite harm.

Now, as it seems, the time has come when the facts, for one reason or another, should be faced.

The difficulty does not end, however, with "arrest on suspicion," "the third degree," "mugging," or their allied abuses.